New Zealand surged ahead in the second Test against Pakistan in Karachi after a stubborn last-wicket stand and disciplined bowling effort on Tuesday.
The Black Caps consolidated their position by reaching 449 in the first innings, a score that was made possible by a century stand for the last wicket between bowlers Matt Henry and Ajaz Patel.
Henry made a career-best unbeaten 68 off 81 balls while Patel also notched his highest Test score of 35 as they added 104 for the 10th wicket and powered New Zealand past 400 at the National Stadium.
With the ball, the two struck again while captain Babar Azam was run out in a bizarre mix-up with Imam-ul-Haq in the final session before Pakistan ended the day at 154-3.
The pitch offered little to the bowlers, but Pakistan did themselves no favours by having skipper Azam, the team's best batsman, run out. Imam drove Michael Bracewell towards midwicket and saw Azam stranded at his end attempting a third run.
Imam was unbeaten on 74 and Saud Shakeel, who took nearly an hour before getting his first run off his 42nd ball and also survived a dropped catch, was not out on 13.
Shafique was the first Pakistan wicket to fall when he pulled pacer Henry's short delivery straight to the hands of Patel for 19. Shan Masood continued his miserable form, cutting spinner Patel to point fielder Devon Conway on 20.
The day had already belonged to Henry and Patel after they combined to lift New Zealand from 345-9.
Tom Blundell, 30 overnight, went on to complete his fifty off 103 balls with six fours before he was clean bowled for 51 by Abrar off a delivery that spun away from the right-hander and also kept a bit low.
Tim Southee (10) successfully overturned an lbw ruling against Hasan Ali but got stumped by Abrar before Patel hung in with Henry, who replaced Neil Wagner in the only change New Zealand made from the team that drew the first match.
Henry smashed eight boundaries and two sixes in his career-best innings, bettering his previous high against Australia at Christchurch in 2016 by six runs.
“Very happy with how we went about our work,” said Henry. “First and foremost was to score runs and try to press forward. And then once we got the field change, we tried to spend some time and actually put together quite a strong performance with the ball.”
Patel also bettered his previous Test best of 20 – against England last year – before he was the last wicket to fall, caught off spinner Abrar Ahmed.
Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers with 4-149 while Naseem Shah (3-71) and Agha Salman (3-75) were the other successful bowlers for the hosts.
Hasan had no success in his first Test since last July as he bowled 21 wicketless overs for 72 runs.
As was the case in the first Test that ended in a draw with the Kiwis denied victory on day five due to bad light, Pakistan have been on the back foot in this Test as well and will require a massive effort in the first innings to put any kind of pressure on the visitors.
“No doubt that last-wicket 100-run partnership was not beneficial for us,” Pakistan batting coach Mohammad Yousuf said. “It should not have happened but sometimes the last wicket becomes tough, it gets teasing and wherever you bowl they get runs. It’s not that they hit out, but they batted well.”
The is the second and final match of the Test series before both teams face off in a three-match ODI series, which will again be played in Karachi.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
