Pakistan ease to victory against Netherlands to make winning start at Cricket World Cup

Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel hit identical half-centuries in an otherwise underwhelming batting effort in their World Cup opener against the Netherlands on Friday, before the bowlers sealed a routine 81-run win for the 1992 champions.

Faced with an achievable target of 287, the Dutch looked on course for a stunning win in Hyderabad at one stage as Vikramjit Singh (52) and Bas de Leede (67) got going, but Pakistan kept chipping away to dismiss the underdogs for 205 in 41 overs.

Haris Rauf (3-43) finished the job by bowling out Paul van Meekeren.

De Leede earlier ripped through the Pakistan line-up taking 4-62 and Colin Ackerman claimed 2-39 after the Netherlands won the toss and decided to bowl, but Rizwan (68) and Shakeel (68) ensured the Asian side made 286 in 49 overs.

Opener Fakhar Zaman was the first to go in the fourth over, lofting a slower ball from Logan van Beek back to the bowler and the Netherlands turned the heat up by taking the prized wicket of Babar Azam for five.

Babar barely looked settled during his 18-ball stint on a dry track that offered plenty of turn and bounce early on and the skipper pulled one to Saqib Zulfiqar at midwicket in Ackermann's first over.

Pakistan limped to 43-3 in the 10 power-play overs after Imam-ul-Haq holed out in the deep, but middle-order batsmen Rizwan and Shakeel steadied the ship with a fourth-wicket partnership of 120.

The Dutch, playing in their first World Cup match since 2011 after coming through the qualifying event, responded as spinner Aryan Dutt had Shakeel caught while paceman De Leede shattered Rizwan's stumps.

De Leede repeated the feat in the 44th over against Shadab Khan (32) and trapped Hasan Ali lbw in the next ball. Mohammad Nawaz was run out for 39 but the rearguard effort ultimately paid off for Pakistan.

Pakistan captain Azam said: "The way Hyderabad have supported, we're very happy and the team has enjoyed their hospitality.

"I'm pretty satisfied. All credit to the bowlers, they started well and then we were able to take wickets in the middle and put pressure on them.

"We lost three wickets early but the way Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel started gave us momentum.

"The century partnership then put pressure on the Netherlands. I liked the way Saud built his innings, he's improved a lot.

"Our bowlers are bowling very well. We stuck to our plans in the first 10 overs, then Haris came on and bowled very quickly."

Netherlands captain Edwards said: "It is a little bit disappointing. I thought we bowled and fielded really well, but to Pakistan's credit they made a few runs at the end. We felt it was about a par score and at 120-2 we felt we were well and truly in the game."

On De Leede's performance, he said: "He is a quality cricketer, isn' he? It is all three departments. I thought he bowled exceptionally well and his innings was awesome. We just needed someone to go with him."

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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.”

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Results

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