England's Kevin Pietersen, centre, and his teammates train in Georgetown, Guyana on Saturday ahead of today's match against the West Indies.
England's Kevin Pietersen, centre, and his teammates train in Georgetown, Guyana on Saturday ahead of today's match against the West Indies.

Gayle: England will turn up 'with blood in their eyes'



England have a score to settle when they meet West Indies tonight in Guyana after being dumped out of the last World Twenty20 by the Caribbean cricketers. They were on the verge of qualifying for a semi-final spot on home soil when a Chris Gayle-inspired West Indies and the rain wrecked their dreams. And Gayle, the West Indies captain, expects England to turn up with "blood in their eyes" when the teams renew their rivalries. He said: "We have a lot of people supporting us in England, so we always want to give them something to smile about - and that encourages us to get job done.

"But it is two good teams and it should be a good match. I'm sure they come out here with blood in their eyes and want to beat us, so we have to make sure they don't get one up on us." England have been earmarked as a team to watch in this tournament after some big gains over the past nine months and a morale-boosting win over South Africa during a warm-up game for the tournament. The success of the England brigade - Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Michael Lumb and Ravi Bopara - in the Indian Premier League has made them the dark horses.

Add Eoin Morgan, Graeme Swann, Craig Kieswetter and Tim Bresnan to the list, and you have a team capable of ending England's wait to add to their trophy cabinet. "We're desperate to win a trophy, we're desperate to do well and we see this as a great opportunity to change things around," Collingwood was quoted as saying by the Stabroek newspaper of Guyana. "We've got into a couple of finals in the past, but never nailed those results down to win a trophy. So we see this as a huge opportunity. The squad are very excited about the next few weeks here and we believe we can do something pretty special here."

Morgan, who impressed in the win over South Africa and could be one of the stars of this tournament, sounded a lot more optimistic than his captain. "I think we have a good chance of winning the tournament," the batsman said. "We have had a good preparation period over the last couple of weeks, and the guys are all confident of making a big impression in the Caribbean. "I am confident that we will be the championship team in this competition."

But England's credentials will be put to the test by a rampant home side, who romped to a 70-run win over Ireland in their opener. Gayle was missing from that game due to a sore body, but should be back to lead the side. "We know England will be a stronger test and we have to steel ourselves for that," Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, said. "We have to stay together and, of course, you will hope that your middle order perform a little better than they did on Friday.

"If we bat a bit more convincingly against England and we can continue to bowl like that then there is a good opportunity for us to first get out of the group with two wins and then move into the next round full of confidence." But the hosts are likely to be minus Sulieman Benn, their beanpole off-spinner, because of a shoulder injury. * Compiled by Ahmed Rizvi, with agencies West Indies v England, 9.30pm, on CricOne

The past winners

2009 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

2010 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

2011 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)

2012 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)

2013 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

2014 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2015 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

2016 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2017 - Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4

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if you go

The flights

Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes. 

The hotels

Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes. 

When to visit

March-May and September-November

Visas

Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

MATCH INFO

Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
 
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs
UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets
UAE v Oman - abandoned
Oman v Namibia - abandoned

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

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SPECS

Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now

The specs

Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)

SPECS

Nissan 370z Nismo

Engine: 3.7-litre V6

Transmission: seven-speed automatic

Power: 363hp

Torque: 560Nm

Price: Dh184,500

The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8

Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm

Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km

Price: Dh380,000

On sale: now 

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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
MATCH INFO

Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)

TV: BeIN Sports

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

Company Profile

Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol

Power: 154bhp

Torque: 250Nm

Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option 

Price: From Dh79,600

On sale: Now

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
Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
Jawan
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