SHARJAH // The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) have named a 43-man training squad ahead of the national team's most important competition for 13 years.
The UAE will be bidding for a place in the top four at the ICC World Cup Qualifier in South Africa in April, which would grant them the right to play in the game's premier 50-over competition on the Subcontinent in 2011.
The result of the Qualifier will have a massive bearing on the future of cricket in the UAE, who reached the finals for the first - and thus far only - time in 1996.
The four qualifiers will benefit from a sizable revenue boost, which could stretch to millions of dollars in ICC funding alone.
Sponsors would also see far greater attraction in a national team participating on such an elite scale.
The tournament could also define the future of some of the UAE's longest-serving players.
Fly Emirates, the nation's pre-eminent club side who face matches against a star-laden Lord's Taverners side at the weekend, provide the bulk of the players for the squad.
Their leading player, Khurram Khan, 37, who captained the UAE to the final of the ACC Trophy in Malaysia last summer, is a shoo-in for the final squad, fitness permitting.
During the ACC Trophy last July, the veteran left-hander suggested his playing days could be over within two years.
If the UAE do manage to qualify for the 2011 World Cup, part of which will be played in his native Pakistan, it would likely delay his retirement plans.
Khurram said: "It is going to be difficult for us, not just me, but there are two or three other guys in a similar situation.
"But it is hard to say what is going to happen in the future. At the moment we are just concentrating on that qualifying round.
"We have some good matches in the lead-up [the UAE and Fly Emirates will be joined by six English county sides in the ProArch Trophy tournament in March]. That is a very good opportunity for our players."
Mohammed Tauqir, 37, who was Khurram's understudy in Malaysia, also stated that the result of the Qualifier will decide when he will finally hang up his boots.
Even though the UAE are firmly established as Asia's top non-Test playing nation, qualification for the World Cup will be tough.
The competition, which starts in Gauteng on Apr 1 and concludes with the final on Apr 18, has the UAE pitted in Group B, along with the most successful non-Test nation, Kenya.
The pool is completed by the Netherlands, who have also been regular visitors to the World Cup in the past, Bermuda, Denmark, and one more qualifier, to be decided early next month.
Abdul Rehman, Ahmed Raza, Alawi Shukri, Aman Shirazi, Amjad Ali, Amjad Javed, Aqib Malik, Adil Farooq, Arshad Ali, Fahad al Hashmi, Fahad Usman, Indika Batuwitaarachchi, Indika Sampath, Irfan Sajjad, Jasim Suwaidi, Javed Ismail, Khurram Khan, Mehtab Ali, Mohammed Tauqir, Mohammed Iqbal, Naeemuddin Aslam, Nigel Fernandez, Nithin Gopal, Obaid Hameed, Owais Hameed, P. Bakhtiyar, Prashanth Braggs, Qasim Zubair, Rameez Shahzad, Rasheed Khan, Ravi Kumar Varma, Riaz Khalid, Salman Farooq, Sameer Zia, Samir Naik, Saqib Ali, Shadeep Silva, Shoaib Sarwar, Taimoor Khalil, Vikranth Shetty, Wasim Bari, Syed Mohamed Fawaz, Zahid Shah
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Tips for holiday homeowners
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Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
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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.”
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
ASHES FIXTURES
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2nd Test: Adelaide, Dec 2-6
3rd Test: Perth, Dec 14-18
4th Test: Melbourne, Dec 26-30
5th Test: Sydney, Jan 4-8
Company profile
Name: Tratok Portal
Founded: 2017
Based: UAE
Sector: Travel & tourism
Size: 36 employees
Funding: Privately funded
The years Ramadan fell in May