Australia coach Justin Langer on Monday conceded some players will be "brutally unlucky" as he faces a Cricket World Cup selection headache with the return of Steve Smith and David Warner.
The defending champions must name their 15-man squad this month for the tournament in England and Wales and Langer said the make-up was becoming clear on the back of the resurgent team's stunning eight-game one-day win streak against India and Pakistan.
"It's actually becoming more obvious by the day to me. The same with the other selectors," he said on the Cricket Australia website.
"We know categorically there are going to be one or two guys brutally unlucky not to get selected because they're all going so well... the blokes in the squad at the moment will be praying it's not them."
Australia made it eight in a row with a 20-run win in the fifth and final one-dayer against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday to sweep the series 5-0 after coming from behind to beat India 3-2 last month.
Their red-hot form has been built on the back of a rock-solid opening partnership between captain Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja.
Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb and Glenn Maxwell have also been in fine touch with the bat, leaving difficult decisions as to where Warner and Smith will fit back in after serving their one-year bans for their part in a ball-tampering scandal.
The bombastic Warner seems a certain starter for their World Cup opener against Afghanistan in Bristol on June 1 after his blistering return to the Indian Premier League.
He bludgeoned a century in 55 balls on Sunday after smashing 85 and 69 in his first two outings for Sunrisers Hyderabad last week.
Former captain Smith, who has scored more modestly with 20 and 28 for the Rajasthan Royals so far, is also expected to be recalled by Australia.
'Good problem' to have
Langer said having Warner banging down the door to open the batting -- a position he has occupied in all but one of his 104 ODI innings -- was a "good problem" to have.
"Aaron has had a really good partnership with David Warner as well," he said, while pointing to the current partnership between Finch and Khawaja as "blossoming at the moment".
"They (Finch and Khawaja) are both pretty chilled out and I think they work really well together. I think it's a positive thing.
David has shown he's a very versatile player, Uzzie's batted three a number of times, Finchy's batted in the middle order. Versatility's important," he added.
Australia's selectors also face a bowling conundrum as they target a record sixth World Cup triumph.
Pat Cummins is a certain starter but Mitchell Starc, the 2015 World Cup player of the tournament, and Josh Hazlewood, who was also integral to their successful campaign at home four years ago, have both been struggling with injury.
They missed the recent winning run and in their absence Jhye Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff and Kane Richardson all played well.
"There's actually some good depth of talent now," said Langer. "There's a number of guys who we could easily select... we've got some more confidence in the other guys."
Australia are expected to take two spinners, with Adam Zampa starting to work well in tandem with Nathan Lyon and conditions expected to be similar to the United Arab Emirates.
Marcus Stoinis had a quiet series with bat and ball against Pakistan but is expected to be named as the all-rounder because Mitch Marsh is out of favour.
F1 drivers' standings
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 281
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 247
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 222
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 177
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 138
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull 93
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 86
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 56
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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.”
