The consistency and stability underpinning England's rise to the top of the Test rankings was in evidence once again as they announced a 16-man squad for the winter series in the UAE against Pakistan, with only one change from the squad that retained the Ashes last winter in Australia.
Ravi Bopara is the only name in this squad who did not feature during the Ashes, picked as a replacement for the now-retired Paul Collingwood. As such there were no surprises and the only selection of any significance was that of Monty Panesar, given another chance to restart a career overtaken by Graeme Swann.
Panesar’s selection, the national selector Geoff Miller acknowledged, had been made bearing in mind conditions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. “Monty’s selection comes off the back of a strong domestic season with Sussex and with the potentially spin-friendly conditions of Dubai and Abu Dhabi in mind,” Miller said.
Spin played a significant role in Pakistan's recent 1-0 Test triumph over Sri Lanka in the UAE, but a backroom staff as meticulous as England's will have noted the regular and plentiful incursions made by Pakistan's pacemen, Umar Gul and Junaid Khan. The pair picked up 26 wickets between them.
The big question ahead of the Tests is likely to be whether England play two spinners, something they have not needed to do during their rise. Panesar’s form – he took 69 wickets in the county season just gone – and past success against Pakistan, who traditionally falter against left-arm spinners, is likely to play a part in the thinking as well.
The return from injury of Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan – both effectively all-rounders on recent form – along with the form of their top order and Matt Prior, means if any side can afford to tweak their balance to suit the conditions it is England.
“We believe we’ve selected a very strong squad with a number of key players looking to return from injury including the likes of Stuart Broad, Eoin Morgan and Chris Tremlett,” Miller said. “All three have missed a significant period of cricket recently but continue to make excellent progress and will be looking forward to having a substantial impact during this series. To have three world-class players of their calibre returning to the squad is an enormous boost for the Test team.”
England will play two three-day warm-up matches before the first Test begins from January 17 in Dubai. The Tests will have the Decision Review System (DRS) in place, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced. The PCB had originally planned to use it only for the ODIs and T20s but have worked a plan with the sponsor to use HawkEye during the three Tests.
Pakistan’s preparations for that series, meanwhile, continue to gather momentum, after they dominated the first day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong.
After putting Bangladesh in, Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman took six wickets to bundle the hosts out for 135; by day’s end Pakistan’s openers, Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar, had taken them to 132 without loss.
The squad
Andrew Strauss (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Steven Davies, Steven Finn, Eoin Morgan, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett and Jonathan Trott
Ibrahim's play list
Completed an electrical diploma at the Adnoc Technical Institute
Works as a public relations officer with Adnoc
Apart from the piano, he plays the accordion, oud and guitar
His favourite composer is Johann Sebastian Bach
Also enjoys listening to Mozart
Likes all genres of music including Arabic music and jazz
Enjoys rock groups Scorpions and Metallica
Other musicians he likes are Syrian-American pianist Malek Jandali and Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou Khalil
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Tim Paine (captain), Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner
Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 2
Keita 5', Firmino 26'
Porto 0
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
The%20specs
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
The biog
Name: Abeer Al Bah
Born: 1972
Husband: Emirati lawyer Salem Bin Sahoo, since 1992
Children: Soud, born 1993, lawyer; Obaid, born 1994, deceased; four other boys and one girl, three months old
Education: BA in Elementary Education, worked for five years in a Dubai school
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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MATCH INFO
Everton 2 (Tosun 9', Doucoure 93')
Rotherham United 1 (Olosunde 56')
Man of the Match Olosunde (Rotherham)
The years Ramadan fell in May
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WOMAN AND CHILD
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Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
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AT4 Ultimate, as tested
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Meatless Days
Sara Suleri, with an introduction by Kamila Shamsie
Penguin
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills