Pakistani captain Misbah-ul-Haq (C) plays a shot as South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher (L) and teammate AB de Villiers look on during the fifth and last day of the second Test match between South Africa and Pakistan at the Abu Dhabi cricket stadium on November 24, 2010. South Africa set Pakistan a target of 354 to win the second Test after declaring their second innings at 203-5 on the fifth and final day. AFP PHOTO/ AAMIR QURESHI
 *** Local Caption ***  731924-01-08.jpg
Misbah-ul-Haq on his way to an unbeaten 58 for Pakistan yesterday. Aamir Qureshi / AFP

Placid pitches threaten Tests: Kallis



ABU DHABI // Jacques Kallis, South Africa's stand-in captain, has warned that Test cricket will die if it is played on the type of batsman-friendly pitches that have been seen in the UAE over the past fortnight.

Pakistan's batsmen were largely untroubled as they were able to force a second successive draw against the Proteas at the Zayed Cricket Stadium yesterday to halve the two-match series.

Kallis was one of the batsmen who profited from the benign batting conditions in the UAE, as he made consecutive centuries in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

However, as a seam-bowling all-rounder, he was also acutely aware that the battle was an unfair one for the bowlers. Just 52 wickets out of a possible 80 fell in 10 days of cricket in the Emirates.

For much of the two Test matches, there was more excitement to be had watching the Movember moustaches growing on the faces of South Africa's players than there was following the action in the middle.

"This is worrying and really needs to be looked at in Test cricket," Kallis said.

"We are struggling to keep the game alive and to play on two wickets like that is really not good for the game.

"The groundsmen really need to ensure the game of Test cricket stays healthy and look to ensure there is a good contest between bat and ball.

"It did not really break up and you could probably play another Test match straight away and still not get a result."

The fact that an injury-depleted and controversy-fatigued Pakistan managed to avoid defeat in the series, having gone down to successive Twenty20 and one-day international series losses to the same opponents, was a boon for their captain, Misbah-ul-Haq.

He averaged 110 for the series, and was undefeated at the crease when both Tests were saved, including his effort of 58 from 140 balls yesterday.

Azhar Ali supported his salvage effort with a funereal 28 not out from 135 balls as Pakistan closed a vacuous Test match on 153 for three from 67 overs.

"The wicket was obviously very good for batting, but you still need to play with skill to succeed," Misbah said.

"I think my team showed that. I never felt my team was demoralised [despite the previous controversies].

"Morale was always high within my team and they played good, hard cricket.

"I am very happy with the way all of them have played and coped with the pressure."


Scorecard
South Africa, 1st innings?584-9 dec

Pakistan, 1st innings 434 all out

South Africa, 2nd innings (overnight 173-4)

Prince                      not out              47?Boucher                       b Gul                 15
Botha                            not out                7
Extras             1nb, 1lb                    2
Total (5 wkts dec, 55 overs)    203
Fall of wickets: 5-182
Bowling: Gul 7-0-32-1; Tanvir 5-1-29-0; Rehman 22-1-81-3; Sami 5-0-28-0; Hafeez 16-4-32-1


Pakistan, 2nd innings

Hafeez    lbw    b Harris    34
Taufeeq    lbw    b Botha    30
Azhar                       not out    28
Younus    lbw    b Harris    0
Misbah                      not out      58?Extras            2lb,1w                    3
Total (3 wkts, 67 overs)    153
Fall of wickets: 1-66; 2-66; 3-66
Bowling: Steyn 11-2-40-0; Morkel 11-1-29-0; Harris 23-14-28-2; Kallis 2-0-13-0; Botha 17-4-40-1; Petersen 1-0-1-0

Match drawn.

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Xpanceo

Started: 2018

Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov

Based: Dubai, UAE

Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality

Funding: $40 million

Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)

Scorebox

Sharjah Wanderers 20-25 Dubai Tigers (After extra-time)

Wanderers

Tries Gormley, Penalty

Cons Flaherty

Pens Flaherty 2

Tigers

Tries O’Donnell, Gibbons, Kelly

Cons Caldwell 2

Pens Caldwell, Cross

BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES

SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities

Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails

Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies

Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments

THE DETAILS

Kaala

Dir: Pa. Ranjith

Starring: Rajinikanth, Huma Qureshi, Easwari Rao, Nana Patekar  

Rating: 1.5/5 

ALRAWABI SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

Creator: Tima Shomali

Starring: Tara Abboud, Kira Yaghnam, Tara Atalla

Rating: 4/5

HEY MERCEDES, WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR ME?

Mercedes-Benz's MBUX digital voice assistant, Hey Mercedes, allows users to set up commands for:

• Navigation

• Calls

• In-car climate

• Ambient lighting

• Media controls

• Driver assistance

• General inquiries such as motor data, fuel consumption and next service schedule, and even funny questions

There's also a hidden feature: pressing and holding the voice command button on the steering wheel activates the voice assistant on a connected smartphone – Siri on Apple's iOS or Google Assistant on Android – enabling a user to command the car even without Apple CarPlay or Android Auto

SQUADS

Bangladesh (from): Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Taijul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain, Nayeem Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadat Hossain, Abu Jayed

Afghanistan (from): Rashid Khan (capt), Ihsanullah Janat, Javid Ahmadi, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Qais Ahmad, Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Afsar Zazai, Shapoor Zadran

MANDOOB

Director: Ali Kalthami

Starring: Mohammed Dokhei, Sarah Taibah, Hajar Alshammari

Rating: 4/5

Sarfira

Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal

Rating: 2/5

Naga

Director: Meshal Al Jaser

Starring: Adwa Bader, Yazeed Almajyul, Khalid Bin Shaddad

Rating: 4/5

COMPANY PROFILE

Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others

SPECS

Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now

Company profile

Company name: Fasset
Started: 2019
Founders: Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Daniel Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $2.45 million
Current number of staff: 86
Investment stage: Pre-series B
Investors: Investcorp, Liberty City Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Primal Capital, Wealthwell Ventures, FHS Capital, VN2 Capital, local family offices

Company Profile

Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
Based: Dubai
Sector: Microfinance
Current number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices

Scoreline

Al Wasl 1 (Caio Canedo 90+1')

Al Ain 2 (Ismail Ahmed 3', Marcus Berg 50')

Red cards: Ismail Ahmed (Al Ain) 77'

How will Gen Alpha invest?

Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.

“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.

Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.

He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.

Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”

The Beekeeper

Director: David Ayer 

Starring: Jason Statham, Josh Hutcherson, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Minnie Driver, Jeremy Irons

Rating: 3/5

Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)

COMPANY PROFILE

Company name: Klipit

Started: 2022

Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant

Based: Dubai, UAE

Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain

Funding: $4 million

Investors: Privately/self-funded

Batti Gul Meter Chalu

Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5

The specs

Engine: 2.3-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 299hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 420Nm at 2,750rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 12.4L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh157,395 (XLS); Dh199,395 (Limited)

Gender pay parity on track in the UAE

The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.

"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."

Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.

"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.

As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general. 

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside

Kill

Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat

Starring: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Raghav Juyal

Rating: 4.5/5

ABU DHABI'S KEY TOURISM GOALS: BY THE NUMBERS

By 2030, Abu Dhabi aims to achieve:

• 39.3 million visitors, nearly 64% up from 2023

• Dh90 billion contribution to GDP, about 84% more than Dh49 billion in 2023

• 178,000 new jobs, bringing the total to about 366,000

• 52,000 hotel rooms, up 53% from 34,000 in 2023

• 7.2 million international visitors, almost 90% higher compared to 2023's 3.8 million

• 3.9 international overnight hotel stays, 22% more from 3.2 nights in 2023


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