Brian Lara, Masters Champions League Cricket. Courtesy Bell Pottinger
Brian Lara, Masters Champions League Cricket. Courtesy Bell Pottinger

The first players’ auction in the Masters Champions League (MCL) takes place in Dubai on Monday



Who is in the auction?

Around 250 former international stars, including Brian Lara, are eligible to be auctioned and they will have to be squeezed into 90 places in the six sides scheduled to take part in the Twenty20 tournament. The auction takes place through the day in Dubai on Monday.

Will I recognise any of the players?

You sure will. Eleven marquee names have been pre-assigned to the six teams. They are Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Michael Vaughan, Graeme Smith, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Heath Streak, Graeme Swann, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood and Scott Styris. Shoaib Akhtar had originally been named as another but he has pulled out.

Six teams, you say?

That is right, the league will be played by six teams, or franchises. Each team is named after a star sign: Libra, Leo, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Virgo and Gemini. Organisers say all six franchises have been bought and details of ownership are expected to be released at the auction.

When does the shindig get underway?

Dates will be revealed today but an approximate two-week window is ready from late January to early February. It will be played at all three international venues in the UAE: Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Is it the same thing as ….

The All-Stars league that recently staged three Twenty20 games in the US? Nope, though the idea is similar and some of the players here will have played in those games as well. Those games were the brainchild of Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne and is a rolling series of games, to be held across the world. ​

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Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community

• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style

“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.

Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term. 

From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”

• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International

"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed.  Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."

• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org

"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."

• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com

"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.

His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.

Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."

• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher

"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen.  He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”

• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org

"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."

Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458. 

TOUCH RULES

Touch is derived from rugby league. Teams consist of up to 14 players with a maximum of six on the field at any time.

Teams can make as many substitutions as they want during the 40 minute matches.

Similar to rugby league, the attacking team has six attempts - or touches - before possession changes over.

A touch is any contact between the player with the ball and a defender, and must be with minimum force.

After a touch the player performs a “roll-ball” - similar to the play-the-ball in league - stepping over or rolling the ball between the feet.

At the roll-ball, the defenders have to retreat a minimum of five metres.

A touchdown is scored when an attacking player places the ball on or over the score-line.

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