Hasan Ali picked up his third four-wicket haul in four matches in the Pakistan Super League, bur Peshawar Zalmi still required a late salvo from Kieron Pollard to get past Multan Sultans.
After Hasan’s death-overs expertise had helped restrict Multan to 145 all out, Peshawar made slow work of their run-chase at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, until the entry of the big Trinidadian.
Pollard took four sixes from the last four balls Mohammed Irfan delivered in the 18th over of Peshawar’s run-chase. It was the all the impetus required to nudge Zalmi towards a five-wicket win, which they eventually sealed with two balls left.
A few nights earlier, Pollard had given graphic evidence of his power when he smashed a six that left the ball lodged in a signboard at the top of the main grandstand at the UAE’s oldest cricket venue.
His four-in-four against Multan earned praise from teammates and opponents alike.
“He is a freak, and that is one of the reasons he has played more T20 matches than anyone else in the world,” Liam Dawson, Pollard’s fellow allrounder for Peshawar, said.
“He is a match-winner, he puts in performances like that all of the time, and for him to take 24 off that over has won us the game.”
Johnson Charles, whose own breezy innings of 53 for Multan was the top score in the match, said the bowler Irfan could have done little to stop Pollard when he was in that sort of mood.
“I wouldn’t say that [Irfan] didn’t bowl well, he is a world-class bowler, but Pollard is also a world-class batsman,” Charles said of his fellow West Indian.
“It is all about on the day executing. He started brilliantly, but in the end Pollard just got the better of him.
“It just hasn’t come together for us. We have done bits and pieces very well, but in the end we haven’t done everything well, and we have suffered for that.”
Dawson also used the term “world-class” to describe Hasan, who has taken 15 wickets in the first five outings of the tournament. The leading wicket-takers in the PSL last season, Faheem Ashraf and Wahab Riaz, managed 18 in its entirety.
“If he keeps getting four wickets in every game, it is only going to get us in a good position,” Dawson said. “He is a world-class bowler, and is performing really well at the minute.”
The win sent Peshawar to second in the table, level on points with defending champions Islamabad United, who they lead on net run-rate.
It was Multan’s fourth defeat from five matches, heaping pressure on Shoaib Malik, the side’s captain, who has had a chequered leadership history in the PSL.
“He has the full support and backing of the team management, the owners, and everyone is with him,” Haider Azhar, Multan’s general manager, said of Malik.
“The games we did lose, we lost to individual brilliant performances. Against Karachi, Liam Livingstone was absolutely fantastic. Against Quetta, [Shane Watson] had us from ball one, and then you had the AB de Villiers masterclass [for Lahore Qalandars.
“This time it was that one over by Pollard. We were still pretty confident, with 145 on the board, but the way Pollard went in that one particular over was exceptional.
“If results start to go our way, we are very, very confident of finding the right combination. You have to take into account we were hampered by a couple of injuries, a couple of late arrivals, and some departures.
“Now we believe we have a lot more settled line up. We are very confident, but obviously we are disappointed at the results.”
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Brief scores
Day 1
Toss England, chose to bat
England, 1st innings 357-5 (87 overs): Root 184 not out, Moeen 61 not out, Stokes 56; Philander 3-46
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.8-litre%204-cyl%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E190hp%20at%205%2C200rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20320Nm%20from%201%2C800-5%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%206.7L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh111%2C195%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Where to apply
Applicants should send their completed applications - CV, covering letter, sample(s) of your work, letter of recommendation - to Nick March, Assistant Editor in Chief at The National and UAE programme administrator for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, by 5pm on April 30, 2020.
Please send applications to nmarch@thenational.ae and please mark the subject line as “Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism (UAE programme application)”.
The local advisory board will consider all applications and will interview a short list of candidates in Abu Dhabi in June 2020. Successful candidates will be informed before July 30, 2020.
Scorline
Iraq 1-0 UAE
Iraq Hussein 28’
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 specs
Price: From Dh180,000 (estimate)
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged and supercharged in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 320hp @ 5,700rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 2,200rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.7L / 100km
Game Of Thrones Season Seven: A Bluffers Guide
Want to sound on message about the biggest show on television without actually watching it? Best not to get locked into the labyrinthine tales of revenge and royalty: as Isaac Hempstead Wright put it, all you really need to know from now on is that there’s going to be a huge fight between humans and the armies of undead White Walkers.
The season ended with a dragon captured by the Night King blowing apart the huge wall of ice that separates the human world from its less appealing counterpart. Not that some of the humans in Westeros have been particularly appealing, either.
Anyway, the White Walkers are now free to cause any kind of havoc they wish, and as Liam Cunningham told us: “Westeros may be zombie land after the Night King has finished.” If the various human factions don’t put aside their differences in season 8, we could be looking at The Walking Dead: The Medieval Years.
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
