England are in a spin in more ways than one as they head into the second Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford on Friday looking to level the four-match series.
Alastair Cook’s men suffered a 75-run defeat inside four days in last week’s first Test at Lord’s, with Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah taking 10 wickets.
Now England will hope to play Shah better at Old Trafford, where the pitch is likely to offer more turn.
They also have to decide whether to give a home debut to leg-spinner Adil Rashid, either in support of, or as a replacement for, Moeen Ali.
Not only was off-spinner Ali, who has spent the bulk of his career as a top-order batsman, out-bowled by Shah at Lord’s, he also fell to him in the second innings when recklessly charging down the pitch.
England have now called in former Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq as a coaching consultant at Old Trafford.
While they will hope he can advise Ali and Rashid, his greatest short-term benefit may lie in tips about how to play spin.
More from England v Pakistan series:
• Osman Samiuddin: When push-up comes to shove who could begrudge Pakistan's jubilant celebrations?
• Second Test preview: England's spin issues at the forefront for Trevor Bayliss ahead of second Pakistan Test
• Shah on the rise: Pakistan spinner Yasir Shah moves top of ICC bowlers' rankings after masterful display at Lord's
England have been without a specialist spin coach since former Pakistan leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed, now in the Pakistan camp, returned home in 2014.
Having picked a 14-man squad, England could field two spinners especially as both all-time leading wicket-taker James Anderson (shoulder) and all-rounder Ben Stokes (knee) have been passed fit after they each missed the first Test.
Anderson is due to return on his Lancashire home ground amid suggestions that Cook and coach Trevor Bayliss were happy to accept his assurances that he was fit for Lord’s, only for the pair to be overruled by the selectors.
Meanwhile, Stokes was looking forward to working with Saqlain, who took 4-74 when Pakistan beat England by 108 runs in the second Test at Old Trafford in 2001.
“You’ve got to use the knowledge of the people you’re lucky enough to have come in and work with you,” Stokes said.
“It would be silly if the batsmen didn’t try to get anything out of him, pick his brains and ask how the guys who were successful against him played.”
So keen are England to play positive cricket that several batsmen gave their wickets away at Lord’s.
“Old Trafford is known to spin, and obviously that’s going to favour (Shah),” Stokes said.
“So we might have to change where you have to think ‘I can do this but no, I can’t do that’, if it’s spinning and bouncing.
“It will just be working out a gameplan in terms of how to score, but not giving your wicket away.”
As England, who also have question marks over top order batsman James Vince, ponder their options, it looks as if Pakistan will field the same side, although openers Mohammad Hafeez and Shan Masood may be looking over their shoulders after poor returns at Lord’s.
Having come through all the hype surrounding Mohammad Amir’s return to Test cricket for the first time since his 2010 spot-fixing crime at Lord’s, they gave fans at the Home of Cricket much else to talk about last week.
Misbah ul-Haq marked his first Test at Lord’s with a fine hundred which saw the 42-year-old captain perform a series of press-ups in celebration.
The captain’s gesture in thanking military staff for the squad’s pre-tour boot camp was echoed by the team after Amir had sealed victory by bowling last man Jake Ball.
But in pure cricket terms it was Shah who stole the show, and Pakistan fielding coach Steve Rixon was not surprised by England’s struggles.
“I think most countries around the world play ‘wristies’ (wrist-spinners) quite poorly,” he said.
“To see someone master it and play them well is a treat to see, but I haven’t seen a lot that do it yet.”
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The biog
Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents
Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University
As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families
Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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.”
TOP 5 DRIVERS 2019
1 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 10 wins 387 points
2 Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 4 wins, 314 points
3 Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 3 wins, 260 points
4 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 2 wins, 249 points
5 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1 win, 230 points
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