SHARJAH // Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan off-spin great, has backed Saeed Ajmal to return from his ban from bowling.
Muralitharan, who is serving a short-term stint as Australia’s spin-bowling consultant in the UAE, reckons Ajmal can “definitely” correct his illegal bowling action.
Ajmal was banned from bowling when tests on his action revealed him to be flexing his arm more than double the permitted 15 degrees.
The Pakistan off-spinner turns 37 on Tuesday and has bowled well over 3,000 overs in all international cricket using his previous method.
However, Muralitharan is certain the remedial work currently being undertaken in the hope that Ajmal can play at February’s World Cup can be successful.
“Definitely, if he works on it for two or three months,” Muralitharan said, after Australia’s win over Pakistan in the opening one-day international at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday night.
“He is working with Saqlain [Mushtaq, the former Pakistan off-spinner]. Hopefully Saqlain will give good tips to him and he can work it out. Nothing is impossible in life.”
Waqar Younis, Pakistan’s head coach, is among a number of people who have questioned the timing of the ICC’s current purge suspect bowling actions.
However, Muralitharan, who had the most critiqued bowling action in the history of cricket, believes the laws need to be observed, no matter the situation.
“The law is there and I also faced the same problems,” said Muralitharan, who has taken more international wickets than anyone else.
“I also went for testing and my [reading] came lower than that [15 degrees of flexion].
“The law has been set for a long time. It says 15 degrees, if the bowler looks suspect the umpires can’t call [a no ball] but they can say they are suspect and they have to go for a test.
“The law was already there, it was there when I was playing also. You have to go and test. If you go under 15, OK.
“If you go over, you have to go and work on your action. That is the basic thing. That is up to any other people to judge, not me.”
Muralitharan says he is proof of the fact the doosra, which is the delivery most often deemed to be suspect among off-spinner, can be delivered within the legal limit.
“I have tested so many times and my doosra is 10.4 degrees,” said Muralitharan, who says he is unlikely to return to playing now he has embarked on his career in coaching.
“I have bowled it and showed it [can be bowled within the legal limit]. It depends on the bowler how they do it, and if you asked Saqlain [who is most regularly credited with inventing the doosra] he would say the same thing.
“If somebody goes beyond the limit, I can’t comment on that. But I can say I can bowl it.”
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'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
RESULT
Manchester City 1 Sheffield United 0
Man City: Jesus (9')
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
ORDER OF PLAY ON SHOW COURTS
Centre Court - 4pm (UAE)
Gael Monfils (15) v Kyle Edmund
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Magdalena Rybarikova
Dusan Lajovic v Roger Federer (3)
Court 1 - 4pm
Adam Pavlasek v Novak Djokovic (2)
Dominic Thiem (8) v Gilles Simon
Angelique Kerber (1) v Kirsten Flipkens
Court 2 - 2.30pm
Grigor Dimitrov (13) v Marcos Baghdatis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Christina McHale
Milos Raonic (6) v Mikhail Youzhny
Tsvetana Pironkova v Caroline Wozniacki (5)
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
