New Zealand eased to an eight-wicket win over the West Indies on Sunday to claim their first victory in a three-Test series in nearly eight years.
The home side, needing just 122 runs to seal the series 2-0, reached their target for the loss of two wickets after the West Indies collapsed in the face of hostile New Zealand swing bowling.
The rapid end to the match surprised New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum after his side trailed by 18 runs on the first innings following a mesmerising spell of spin bowling by Sunil Narine.
“I certainly didn’t expect it to end up as quickly as this,” McCullum said, admitting he probably made the wrong decision to bowl first.
“In hindsight we should have batted first. We misread the wicket and once we saw it turning and bouncing the way it did there was a bit of concern.”
But once New Zealand seamers Trent Boult and Tim Southee tore through the West Indies’ second innings, scuttling the tourists for a paltry 103, it became easy work for New Zealand to bat out the win.
Hamish Rutherford, who sealed victory with a boundary to take New Zealand to 124-2, finished on 48 not out, with Ross Taylor on two.
Peter Fulton was the first wicket to fall on Sunday, caught and bowled by Darren Sammy for 10, and Kane Williamson was dismissed for 56, bowled by Veerasammy Permaul.
New Zealand take the series 2-0 after the first Test in Dunedin was drawn and they won the second by an innings and 73 runs in Wellington.
It is the first time New Zealand have achieved back-to-back Test victories against a top-eight side since March 2006 -- also against the West Indies. The Black Caps also won that three-Test series 2-0.
New Zealand resumed their second innings on the fourth morning at 6-0 and although Narine, who took six wickets in the home side’s first innings, bowled unchanged throughout the first session, he went without reward.
Rutherford, who was stuck at the spinner’s end for a prolonged spell, offered a chance on 20 but Permaul did not see the ball early enough and it landed short of his grasp.
When he was on 24, Rutherford was given out caught behind, but the decision was overturned on appeal with the video replay showing the sound was the bat hitting the ground.
It was a remarkable change in the complexion of the match after the West Indies restricted New Zealand to 349 in their first innings, with the home side struggling to handle Narine on a turning wicket.
But the tourists suffered from questionable shot selection against the swing bowling of Boult and Southee in their second innings on Saturday, leaving New Zealand with a straightforward task.
“It looked like they had a plan for each and every batsman and the way their bowlers bowled on that wicket put us under a lot of pressure and we just did not have a response,” captain Darren Sammy said.
“I’m most disappointed with our performance. We did not foresee what happened. We were thinking above 200 on the last day when we got spinning with the Narine factor it would be an interesting game.”
Boult and Southee, along with the batting of Ross Taylor, laid the foundations for New Zealand’s success.
Taylor, with 131 in the first innings, scored 495 in five innings in the series and he was only dismissed twice. From 10 Tests in the 2013 calendar year he averages 72.16.
Boult (four for 23) and Southee (3-12) destroyed the West Indies’ second innings. Over the three Tests, Boult took 20 wickets at 15.40 and Southee claimed 18 scalps at 18.11.
The sides will now play five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 fixtures before India arrive in New Zealand next month for five one-day internationals and two Tests.
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.”
Company Profile
Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed
MATCH DETAILS
Barcelona 0
Slavia Prague 0
WHAT IS THE LICENSING PROCESS FOR VARA?
Vara will cater to three categories of companies in Dubai (except the DIFC):
Category A: Minimum viable product (MVP) applicants that are currently in the process of securing an MVP licence: This is a three-stage process starting with [1] a provisional permit, graduating to [2] preparatory licence and concluding with [3] operational licence. Applicants that are already in the MVP process will be advised by Vara to either continue within the MVP framework or be transitioned to the full market product licensing process.
Category B: Existing legacy virtual asset service providers prior to February 7, 2023, which are required to come under Vara supervision. All operating service proviers in Dubai (excluding the DIFC) fall under Vara’s supervision.
Category C: New applicants seeking a Vara licence or existing applicants adding new activities. All applicants that do not fall under Category A or B can begin the application process through their current or prospective commercial licensor — the DET or Free Zone Authority — or directly through Vara in the instance that they have yet to determine the commercial operating zone in Dubai.
Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
A Long Way Home by Peter Carey
Faber & Faber
Stamp duty timeline
December 2014: Former UK chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne reforms stamp duty land tax (SDLT), replacing the slab system with a blended rate scheme, with the top rate increasing to 12 per cent from 10 per cent:
Up to £125,000 – 0%; £125,000 to £250,000 – 2%; £250,000 to £925,000 – 5%; £925,000 to £1.5m: 10%; More than £1.5m – 12%
April 2016: New 3% surcharge applied to any buy-to-let properties or additional homes purchased.
July 2020: Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveils SDLT holiday, with no tax to pay on the first £500,000, with buyers saving up to £15,000.
March 2021: Mr Sunak extends the SDLT holiday at his March 3 budget until the end of June.
April 2021: 2% SDLT surcharge added to property transactions made by overseas buyers.
June 2021: SDLT holiday on transactions up to £500,000 expires on June 30.
July 2021: Tax break on transactions between £125,000 to £250,000 starts on July 1 and runs until September 30.
