Former England batsman Mark Ramprakash will lead a multi-national MCC team against Lancashire in English cricket's traditional curtain-raiser in Abu Dhabi next month.
For the third year running, the first-class match will be played under floodlights with a pink ball at the Zayed Cricket Stadium and will be played between March 27-30.
"I am delighted to be returning to Abu Dhabi for the third year to play the Champion County match," John Stephenson, MCC's Head of Cricket, who selected the team, said. "It gives the club a superb opportunity to test the pink ball in an excellent international ground, and I believe the players we have brought together will be able to exploit the conditions and use the match as a valuable warm up for the season ahead.
It will be preceded by the Emirates Airline Twenty20 - a four-way tournament featuring MCC, Lancashire, Durham and Sussex - played at The Sevens, Dubai on March 23. This will provide valuable preparation for the Indian Premier League for Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, who then depart before the match in Abu Dhabi to prepare for the Rajasthan Royals' and Pune Warriors' campaigns respectively.
Ramprakash will be leading sides featuring a blend of youth and experience and drawn from five countries and eight English counties. The last time he wore MCC's colours was as an England tourist to South Africa in 1995.
The side aiming to repeat MCC's success on the field against Nottinghamshire in 2011 includes two spinners, Durham's Ian Blackwell and Surrey's Gareth Batty who have played for England, and Worcestershire's Moeen Ali who represented the England Lions against England in Abu Dhabi earlier this month.
Their spin will be complemented by pace from Pakistan and Derbyshire's Rana Naved, 19-year-old all-rounder Lewis Gregory, who was Somerset's leading wicket-taker in last year's T20 competition, and veteran seamer Alan Richardson who enjoyed an excellent 2011 season, taking 73 first-class wickets. Ireland's Niall O'Brien is the man charged with taking the stumpings and claiming the catches behind the stumps.
Glamorgan's Gareth Rees and Northamptonshire's Stephen Peters will hope to lay a solid foundation at the top of the innings on which Ramprakash and former MCC Young Cricketer and New Zealand international Hamish Marshall can capitalise. Peters has the advantage of having played with the same pink Kookaburra G3 ball with white seam when he represented MCC in last year's fixture.
"It's a great pleasure to be back in MCC's colours after so many years, all the more so given I was originally picked to play in this match in 2010 but was unable to - it's fantastic to get another opportunity," Ramprakash said. "I have never played with a pink ball before and I'm looking forward to negotiating this new challenge. Any innovation - such as floodlit cricket using pink balls - which could help increase the popularity of the game is to be welcomed.
"I am looking forward to captaining such diverse cricketers. I believe there is much to be gained from playing alongside different team-mates, from new skills on the field, to friendships off it, and I'm very much looking forward to the trip."
MCC squad: Mark Ramprakash (England and Surrey), Moeen Ali (England Lions & Worcestershire), Gareth Batty (England and Surrey), Ian Blackwell (England and Durham), Rahul Dravid (Emirates Airline Twenty20 only) (India), Sourav Ganguly (Emirates Airline Twenty20 only) (India), Lewis Gregory (England Under 19s and Somerset), Hamish Marshall (Champion County match only) (New Zealand and Gloucestershire), Rana Naved (Champion County match only) (Pakistan and Derbyshire), Niall O'Brien (Ireland and Northamptonshire), Stephen Peters (Northamptonshire), Gareth Rees (Glamorgan), Alan Richardson (Worcestershire)
SERIE A FIXTURES
Saturday (All UAE kick-off times)
Lecce v SPAL (6pm)
Bologna v Genoa (9pm)
Atlanta v Roma (11.45pm)
Sunday
Udinese v Hellas Verona (3.30pm)
Juventus v Brescia (6pm)
Sampdoria v Fiorentina (6pm)
Sassuolo v Parma (6pm)
Cagliari v Napoli (9pm)
Lazio v Inter Milan (11.45pm)
Monday
AC Milan v Torino (11.45pm)
more from Janine di Giovanni
The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
Age
|
$250 a month
|
$500 a month
|
$1,000 a month
|
25
|
$640,829
|
$1,281,657
|
$2,563,315
|
35
|
$303,219
|
$606,439
|
$1,212,877
|
45
|
$131,596
|
$263,191
|
$526,382
|
55
|
$44,351
|
$88,702
|
$177,403
|
Company%20Profile
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Under 19 Cricket World Cup, Asia Qualifier
Fixtures
Friday, April 12, Malaysia v UAE
Saturday, April 13, UAE v Nepal
Monday, April 15, UAE v Kuwait
Tuesday, April 16, UAE v Singapore
Thursday, April 18, UAE v Oman
UAE squad
Aryan Lakra (captain), Aaron Benjamin, Akasha Mohammed, Alishan Sharafu, Anand Kumar, Ansh Tandon, Ashwanth Valthapa, Karthik Meiyappan, Mohammed Faraazuddin, Rishab Mukherjee, Niel Lobo, Osama Hassan, Vritya Aravind, Wasi Shah
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Book%20Details
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How to invest in gold
Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.
A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.
Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”
Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”
Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”
By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.
You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.
You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.
Quick facts on cancer
- Cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide, after cardiovascular diseases
- About one in five men and one in six women will develop cancer in their lifetime
- By 2040, global cancer cases are on track to reach 30 million
- 70 per cent of cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income countries
- This rate is expected to increase to 75 per cent by 2030
- At least one third of common cancers are preventable
- Genetic mutations play a role in 5 per cent to 10 per cent of cancers
- Up to 3.7 million lives could be saved annually by implementing the right health
strategies
- The total annual economic cost of cancer is $1.16 trillion
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”