Not for the first time in his life, Ahmed Raza said he was inspired by Shane Warne when it came to calling time on his playing career – which goes down as one of the best in the history of the game in the UAE.
The Australian spin legend, Raza recalled, had said it was best to field questions asking why you are retiring now, rather than being told it is time to go.
Age 34, the left-arm spinner could unquestionably still do a job, be it in international cricket, franchise, or the club game. Now, though, he says is the time to move on to the next challenge.
After all, Raza, who was first inspired to play the sport when his dad took him to watch games at Sharjah Stadium while his car was being washed, could scarcely have eked out more from his playing days.
When he debuted for UAE, against future superstars like Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, in a low-key List A game in Abu Dhabi in 2006, Raza was still at school.
While Rohit and Jadeja would go on to become Indian Premier League zillionaires, Raza would maintain a day job for the majority of his playing career.
He only went professional five years ago. Starting out as a pro sportsman age 29 left only a relatively short time to chase his dreams, and he was aware he had to prepare for life after playing.
He always hoped that would involve staying in cricket, and looked to coaching. While still captain of the senior men’s team, he was part of the coaching staff of the Under 19 side when they played at the World Cup in South Africa three years ago.
He says the offer to become the assistant coach of the national team was “timed perfectly,” and “made my decision [to retire] quite easy.” It also gave reason to pause and consider everything that has gone before.
“I feel like a lot of these years have gone in the blink of an eye,” Raza told The National.
“It feels like yesterday when I started playing. It has been an amazing journey and I have no regrets about anything.
“It is a bittersweet feeling as well, but when I think of UAE cricket I always try to think how I can make a difference to it.
“Now I feel like I can make a difference from this side of the game. I led the team the way I did. Now this job has come about, I feel as though I can continue making a difference.”
Raza’s greatest feat was righting a ship that was listing badly at the end of 2019. He was handed the captaincy of a side that had just seen three players suspended pending a corruption probe, on the eve of the 2019 T20 World Cup Qualifier.
Seven players have subsequently been banned from the sport because of the issue. Through it all, Raza helped rebuild the side, with an accent on youth that had hitherto been rare in UAE cricket.
The repair job was so successful that, the next time there was a chance to qualify for a T20 World Cup, Raza’s side routed all before them. The captain himself took five wickets in the win that clinched progress to Australia last year.
“The ambition of taking UAE to a World Cup was so high for me,” Raza said.
“When eventually that happened, there is nothing that can top that. It was the best feeling I had as a cricket player and the best feeling I had as a captain.”
Raza’s canny captaincy often overshadowed his bowling. As did the bowlers at the other end, he says. Not that that was an issue.
His focus was always on economy rather than wickets, such as when UAE played against the continent’s elite at the 2015 Asia Cup T20 in Bangladesh. Over the course of four successive matches against Oman, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, Raza conceded just a single boundary.
“That Asia Cup was a memorable one, not just for how I did, but because if you want to summarise how I played my cricket for all these years, that was the highlight,” Raza said.
“I had the most economical figures going around at the time. I didn’t pick up many wickets, as I probably didn’t during the whole of my career.
“That was how I performed over the years. Even if I didn’t pick up wickets, I was economical and I took a lot of pride in doing that.
“If I wasn’t picking up wickets, I was containing so the guy at the other end could, and eventually it was a good partnership. I always saw it like that. It was never that I was greedy for wickets, I was always greedy to help in whatever possible way.”
Doing what you can to help others shine seems a pretty decent mantra for a coach. It is one that works for Raza.
“From the other side of the rope, as long as I am helping people perform to the best of their potential, eventually it will help the team to do well,” he said.
“That is something I have thought about. I will be working with the head coach [Robin Singh] and following his lead, but I will also have my own identity in how I work with people and help people.
“All coaches have different ideas and ways and means of doing it. I hope mine is approachable, where people can come up to me and discuss how they feel. Not just about how they feel about their cricket, but about how they feel in general.
“I have been in this sport for a very long time, I have seen all the ups and downs. I don’t think there has been anyone who has gone through so many highs and so many lows.”
The new role will pitch Raza back into the same dressing room as the coach who demoted him from the captaincy, as well as the player – CP Rizwan – who took on the armband. But Raza says he bears no ill will.
“I think my relationship with everyone in the squad has been really good,” he said.
“It is a two-way street, and I can’t take all the credit for that. But I think being approachable is one of the strengths I had as a captain and a senior player.
“I didn’t have a senior-junior thing. I spoke to [long-serving all-rounder Rohan Mustafa] the same way I spoke to [young wicketkeeper Vriitya Aravind] when he started.
“It is all about getting the best out of them. With CP, not much will change. The conversations will be different because I will be seeing it from the sidelines.
“It is always very easy from the sidelines, but it is hard from the middle. I do understand that. I will try and help him as much as I can.
“He is a good listener and I hope we will continue to work together and produce results. If we do that, ultimately it will help UAE cricket.”
Muslim Council of Elders condemns terrorism on religious sites
The Muslim Council of Elders has strongly condemned the criminal attacks on religious sites in Britain.
It firmly rejected “acts of terrorism, which constitute a flagrant violation of the sanctity of houses of worship”.
“Attacking places of worship is a form of terrorism and extremism that threatens peace and stability within societies,” it said.
The council also warned against the rise of hate speech, racism, extremism and Islamophobia. It urged the international community to join efforts to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl
Power: 153hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: Dh99,000
On sale: now
Indoor Cricket World Cup Dubai 2017
Venue Insportz, Dubai; Admission Free
Fixtures - Open Men 2pm: India v New Zealand, Malaysia v UAE, Singapore v South Africa, Sri Lanka v England; 8pm: Australia v Singapore, India v Sri Lanka, England v Malaysia, New Zealand v South Africa
Fixtures - Open Women Noon: New Zealand v England, UAE v Australia; 6pm: England v South Africa, New Zealand v Australia
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
BOSH!'s pantry essentials
Nutritional yeast
This is Firth's pick and an ingredient he says, "gives you an instant cheesy flavour". He advises making your own cream cheese with it or simply using it to whip up a mac and cheese or wholesome lasagne. It's available in organic and specialist grocery stores across the UAE.
Seeds
"We've got a big jar of mixed seeds in our kitchen," Theasby explains. "That's what you use to make a bolognese or pie or salad: just grab a handful of seeds and sprinkle them over the top. It's a really good way to make sure you're getting your omegas."
Umami flavours
"I could say soya sauce, but I'll say all umami-makers and have them in the same batch," says Firth. He suggests having items such as Marmite, balsamic vinegar and other general, dark, umami-tasting products in your cupboard "to make your bolognese a little bit more 'umptious'".
Onions and garlic
"If you've got them, you can cook basically anything from that base," says Theasby. "These ingredients are so prevalent in every world cuisine and if you've got them in your cupboard, then you know you've got the foundation of a really nice meal."
Your grain of choice
Whether rice, quinoa, pasta or buckwheat, Firth advises always having a stock of your favourite grains in the cupboard. "That you, you have an instant meal and all you have to do is just chuck a bit of veg in."
