Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

	Shivnarine Chanderpaul launches the final ball for six to win the opening ODI for West Indies © AFP

Shivnarine Chanderpaul carried West Indies to a thrilling final-ball one-wicket win in the first one-day international in Port of Spain after being left needing 10 off two deliveries. He responded with a straight drive before flicking a Chaminda Vaas full toss over deep midwicket to send the Trinidad crowd into wild celebrations.An enthralling match had swung one way then the other before the final act. Sri Lanka recovered from 49 for 5 to post a competitive total with Chamara Kapugedera hitting a career-best 95 in a record sixth-wicket stand of 159 with Chamara Silva. West Indies were well placed on 109 for 1 before Chris Gayle fell for 52, and when Dwayne Bravo was run out the lower-order was exposed. Sri Lanka appeared to have done enough, but Chanderpaul had other ideas.He’d struggled to find the boundary, and the strike, in the final stages but clipped a four off the final ball of the 49th over. Only three runs came off the first four balls of the last over from Vaas before Chanderpaul slammed a drive past mid-off, followed by the match-clinching six which sailed over Mahela Jayawardene on the fence. Jayawardene knew he wasn’t going to haul in a last-ditch catch and although he made his displeasure clear at the rare blemish from Vaas, on reflection he’ll find plenty to be pleased about from his team’s performance.This series marks something of a watershed for Sri Lanka as they start to build for the next World Cup. Muttiah Muralitharan has been rested, something that will become the norm for non-major tournaments or series, while Sanath Jayasuriya has been dropped to blood a young top order. Throw in the absence of Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando and Farveez Maharoof through injury and this was Sri Lanka’s weakest one-day bowling attack for some time. After Vaas’s 392 wickets, the next best was Tillakaratne Dilshan with 45.It didn’t leave Jayawardene much to work with, especially when Ishara Amerasinghe was taken to the cleaners and Kapugedera’s bowling was less successful than his batting. It was the debutant spinner, Ajantha Mendis, who stood up with three wickets leaving West Indies dumbfounded by his variations to suggest Sri Lanka may have unearthed someone to help ease the burden on Muralitharan.Mendis showed the calmness and control of a seasoned international player, not a 23-year-old playing his first game. He broke through a 56-run stand between Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, later adding Darren Sammy and, one ball after being launched for six, claiming Jerome Taylor in his further spells.Nuwan Kulasekera was another to answer his captain’s call with top-order wickets. Starting with Devon Smith he also removed Sarwan and two balls later trapped Marlon Samuels lbw. Bravo decided the best way to counter the flurry of wickets was with aggression and joined the list of batsmen to take a liking to Amerasinghe. He played his trademark pull off one leg through midwicket before unfurling the shot of the match, a back-foot drive high over extra-cover which struck one of the photographers a nasty blow on the head.It was a piece of headless cricket that opened the door again for Sri Lanka as Bravo succumbed to a misunderstanding with Chanderpaul and both ended up at the same end. Bravo’s dismissal left West Indies needing 67 off 12 overs and the onus was on Chanderpaul. He was composed, but his colleagues less so. Patrick Browne couldn’t pick Mendis’ box of tricks, but his team-mates will forgive him that. They will be less generous about his dismissal. One ball after easing the pressure with a sweet six off Dilshan he tried a repeat and found Mendis at long on. However, in the final throes it was the two most experienced players on the field who went head-to-head, with Chanderpaul coming out on topWest Indies would never have envisaged such a close call after they’d taken advantage of early movement to reduce Sri Lanka’s top order to ruins. Bravo claimed three, including Jayawardene who drove loosely to backward point, after Kumar Sangakkara had fallen in similar fashion against Taylor.Kapugedera has struggled to nail a consistent place in the middle order since making his debut two years ago but has continued to knock on the door with performances for Sri Lanka A. He expanded his strokeplay in the closing overs, taking two sixes off Sulieman Benn plus another off Fidel Edwards, and seemed to be timing his pursuit of three figures nicely until falling to the penultimate ball of the innings.He’d been helped in the well-paced fightback by Silva, the more experienced player who was happy to let Kapugedera play his natural game. With the charge on in the final ten overs Silva also began to open his shoulders, but picked out midwicket for a 96-ball 67, full of inventive strokes and quick running, to hand Bravo his fourth wicket. Bravo’s all-round contribution earned him the match award, but the Trinidad crowd made it clear they knew who West Indies had to thank for pulling off a victory that had appeared to have slipped away.

Scorecard

	Canterbury celebrate winning the trophy away from home © Getty Images

Canterbury secured their first State Championship title in a decade after Todd Astle’s four wickets helped fend off a charging Wellington at the Basin Reserve. Wellington were 154 for 5 chasing 249 when Astle collected three wickets in an over to reduce them to 154 for 8 and all but end any chances of a home-town triumph.Wellington started the day in big trouble at 14 for 4, however a 65-run stand from Chris Nevin (25) and Neal Parlane brought them back into the game. When Brandon Hiini had Nevin lbw, Parlane batted on with Luke Woodcock and their 83-run partnership caused some nervous moments for Cantebury, who had declared late on the fourth afternoon.But Astle’s heroics changed the match – he began with Parlane caught by Michael Papps for 74. Three balls later Dewayne Bowden was caught without scoring before Jeetan Patel was caught behind from his first delivery.Woodcock tried his best to rescue the situation, however he was the last man out, finishing with 65 and giving Astle the figures of 4 for 26 as Canterbury prevailed. It was their first State Championship title since 1997-98.”It was a magnificent effort from us in a game that’s gone up and down,” Canterbury coach Dave Nosworthy told the . “But Wellington are a quality side and I feel for them at the moment, I know what they’re going through.”

	Brad Haddin’s batting is strong, but it is his glovework that will be heavily monitored in the West Indies © Getty Images

Following in the footsteps of a great player is never easy, but Brad Haddin is ready to replace Adam Gilchrist and make his Test debut in two weeks. Haddin is the only gloveman in Australia’s 15-man squad for the West Indies tour and unless injury hits he will become the country’s 400th Test representative in the opening match in Jamaica from May 22.Haddin, who has been fine-tuning with his team-mates at the camp in Brisbane, will also be required to perform a vital batting role as Australia begin life without Gilchrist. Nobody benefited more from the surprise retirement of Gilchrist in January than Haddin, 30, and he is about to get the chance to prove he is a capable replacement.”I haven’t thought too much about that,” he said. “I haven’t really felt like I’m going into Adam’s shoes. If you ask me a day out before the Test I might answer differently, but I’ve just concentrated on myself, making sure I can prepare the best I can.”Part of that plan was not going to the IPL so he could be ready for something he has waited a decade to achieve. Despite joking he was the “idiot that said no” to the bags of money, he knew protecting himself for the West Indies was much more important.”I wanted to have five weeks to get ready to be a Test player,” he said. “I’d been waiting ten years, if something had have happened over there [in India] I don’t think I could have lived with myself.”Haddin’s path to the Test team has involved 29 ODIs and 89 first-class games and he is the model of a modern wicketkeeper. His batting is so full of energy – he scored three Pura Cup hundreds last summer and has an ODI strike-rate of almost 80 – that his glovework is often overlooked. However, he has kept a lot to Lee, Clark, MacGill and Bollinger, his New South Wales team-mates in the national squad, and averaged almost five first-class dismissals a match in 2007-08.”Adam’s changed the perception of a wicketkeeper,” he said. “Before you had to be solid with the gloves and contribute with bat. Now you have to be a genuine allrounder. Keeping is always the No. 1 priority, but you have to be able to contribute a lot more with the bat.”The new, big role has not convinced Haddin to alter his approach. “I’m going to play the way I have for the last ten years,” he said. “It’s as simple as that. I’m not going to change a thing because I’m playing Test cricket. I’m going to play the same way as I have in one-dayers for Australia and four-day games with New South Wales.”Fortunately for Haddin, he knows how Australia operate after being a regular tourist over the past couple of years, including at the 2007 World Cup. “The wait is very beneficial,” he said. “I got picked seven years ago and I wasn’t ready to play. Now I feel confident in what I do and where my game’s at. Having had ten years’ experience at first-class level, hopefully I can take it across to Test cricket and feel comfortable there.”An added advantage of the current set up is Tim Nielsen, the coach, is a former wicketkeeper for South Australia. During the opening day of the camp the pair completed a one-on-one session when Haddin was shaking off any rust that built up since the Pura Cup final win in March. Nielsen literally wanted Haddin “on his toes” when he was collecting catches at Allan Border Field. He will need a similar attitude during the three Tests against West Indies.

England XI 174 for 6 (Roy 59, Hales 40) beat UAE XI 95 for 9 (Moeen 4-11) by 79 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJason Roy scored a 26-ball fifty to set up England’s win•Getty Images

England warmed up for their three-match Twenty20 series against Pakistan later this week with a comfortable, if occasionally rusty, 79-run victory over a United Arab Emirates XI that ended up being an XVII.The gulf between the sides was Persian in its magnitude, as a UAE squad featuring six uncapped players out of the 17 who took part at various stages of the game was restricted to 95 for 9 in reply to England’s 174 for 6. The margin might well have been wider had it not been for a determined 23 from 22 balls from Fahad Tariq, who rescued his side from 61 for 8 before becoming Moeen Ali’s fourth wicket of the innings in the final over of the match.Despite their dominance, it was a lopsided display from England, in particular with the bat, as a new-look middle-order struggled to match the hectic tempo set by Jason Roy and Alex Hales, two of England’s batting stars from last week’s ODI series win.The value of prior match experience in these conditions was amply demonstrated in the opening overs of the contest. With form and confidence to fall back on, Roy’s innings started out as a homage to Jos Buttler’s bruising exploits at Dubai on Friday, as he clobbered nine fours and two sixes to race to 59 from 29 balls, adding 92 for the first wicket with Hales inside the first seven overs.But then, after bringing up his fifty with the second of his two sixes over long-on, Roy charged down the wicket to the left-arm spin of Ahmed Raza and would have been stumped by half the length of the pitch had he not instead been bowled.His departure brought a shuddering halt to England’s momentum. One over later, a disconsolate James Vince was trooping back to the dressing-room. He had run himself out going for an unwise second run and must fear that his four-ball 2 will represent the sum total of his time at the crease on this trip.Hales was next to fall for 40, excellently caught at long-off off the legspin of Zaheer Maqsood, who had earlier had the same batsman dropped at deep midwicket on 12 and at 122 for 3 in the 13th over, England’s designs on a 200-plus score were starting to be reassessed.Moeen’s 20 from 16 balls, with one four and one six, was a typically serene performance with a familiarly unfulfilling ending, as he was beaten in flight by Imran Haider and bowled by a hint of turn, whereupon the urge to dominate from the outset started to overwhelm the rest of the batting line-up.Sam Billings was caught behind in Haider’s next over, which ended up as a wicket maiden as a frantic Chris Jordan aimed air-shot after air-shot in his first innings since Sussex’s County Championship relegation in September.At the other end, Eoin Morgan, deprived of the strike, kept England ticking with two fours before bunting a full-toss from Mohammad Ayaz to midwicket, as England mustered 174 for 6 in their 20 overs, a decent total when taken as a whole, but an innings of two distinct halves – 92 for 0 in 39 balls, and 82 for 6 in the remaining 81.It was never likely to be close, however. Jordan quickly made amends for his batting mishaps with two early breakthroughs, plucking out Syed Maqsood’s leg stump in his first over before having Mohammed Kaleem caught by Reece Topley at mid-on in his second.Topley himself bowled Abdul Shakoor for a duck and when Morgan removed Rameez Shahzad with a fine back-pedalling catch off Liam Plunkett, UAE were 31 for 4 and sinking fast.England’s spinners then took up the attack, not least Moeen, who finished with 4 for 11 off three overs. He had at one stage been on a hat-trick, but with the UAE captain Ahmed Raza in his sights, he diffused the tension with an easily negotiated full-toss. It was that sort of a game.

Day two in Sydney was one to stretch the patience of the most ardent cricket follower. Five times play was started and then stopped due to rain, before the showers intensified and blotted out the remainder of play completely. A hardy 14,266 souls turned up, including 501 Richie Benaud impersonators, whose trio of trumpeters gave rousing renditions of the old Channel Nine cricket fanfare.It was fitting then, that the day’s dominant figure – in the 11.2 overs play that were possible – was a cricketer who exudes an enthusiasm for the game that is familiar to its most committed fans. Carlos Brathwaite has been a revelation on this tour so far, as much for his infectiously enthusiastic approach to the game as a pair of freewheeling half centuries. When numerous other West Indian players have seemed unwilling to show too much of themselves on the field, Brathwaite’s heart is very much on his sleeve.

Still time for a result – O’Keefe

Though he has at least enjoyed the feeling of taking a wicket in a Test on his home ground, Steve O’Keefe spent most of a rain-affected day two like everyone else – waiting, hoping, and ultimately leaving early.
“It is annoying. It’s hard for the guys to just continually switch off then get back up,” he said. “I think it’s much easier if you’re batting. You can sort of come out then start again, it’s only really the two guys out there. Very rarely do you play games of cricket where the conditions are perfect and game plans go exactly to plan. The support staff get us switched on and Smithy makes sure that with 10 minutes to go we’re ready and out there to do a job.”
Nevertheless, O’Keefe reckoned that there was still a result possible on a pitch offering spin and swing. “There’s still a hell of a lot of cricket to go,” he said. “If you can get three days in it’s close to 300 overs and hopefully if the skipper sees that spin will play a big role then we might get more overs in towards the back end of the match. If the wicket keeps spinning … it’s spinning already. Without a doubt.”

The day’s truncated rhythm, damp outfield and greasy ball suited the sort of smash and grab innings Brathwaite clearly enjoys playing, and in the day’s longest stretch of play he took on the Australian bowling in a fashion that exploited bowlers still finding their lines. While Denesh Ramdin dropped anchor, Brathwaite moved from his overnight 35 to 69 from 71 balls, including a handful of strokes that will stay long in the mind’s eye.”I just went out there and tried to play my game,” Brathwaite said of a tally that included 23 runs in two overs from a fast but wayward James Pattinson. “Thankfully I got from 30-odd overnight to 69. I’m not satisfied with the fact I didn’t carry on to get three figures or to see out the day but still happy in the sense that I managed to record my highest Test score so far.”Watching Brathwaite making use of his height and the leverage it offers him, numerous heavy hitters came to mind. The man himself had been inspired by Kevin Pietersen, a batsman of similar reach and a matchless capacity to put a bowler off balance with agile footwork and blazing shots, not all of them in the coaching manual but plenty played with disarming flourish. But there is a twist to this tale – until he grew tall and broad, Brathwaite was a top-order player, dropping his bat on the ball with obstinate intent, inspired by none other than Rahul Dravid.”Funnily enough when I was growing up I used to bat No. 3 and I was very defensive,” Brathwaite said. “I used to bat the majority of balls and Rahul Dravid was my idol. A little shift now, in the years since I’ve bulked up and changed my game a bit I’ve looked to Kevin Pietersen, the way he puts bowlers under pressure, the way he stamps his authority on the game. If I can have half the career he had I’ll be happy with that.”In taking the West Indies as far as 7 for 248, Brathwaite has given the visitors a chance to put some pressure on Australia’s batsmen. Even so, Brathwaite still felt there were more runs to be had down the order, and there was plenty to like about the detailed way in which he looked at the talents of the lower-order batting Ramdin will have for company on day three.”We always go out there with a positive mindset,” he said. “Kemar Roach has been batting very well, Jerome Taylor has a Test hundred, and Jomel Warrican will never let any of us forget he’s averaging 45 in Test cricket, only being dismissed once. So the guys in the dressing room can back their talents and see how far we can go from here.”It was a source of considerable frustration to Brathwaite that he would not be able to join them, having continued on his positive path right up until the instant Pattinson found some late swing to beat his bat and flick the outside of the off stump. A fine delivery ended Brathwaite’s day, but it was nothing compared to the warm reception he was given by an SCG crowd who knew the preceding interlude was likely to be the highlight of the day.”I was very, very upset, not on the dismissal because I think it was a good nut – didn’t handle it as well as I could have though – but walking off I was upset that once again I got a start and couldn’t carry on,” Brathwaite said. “One of my mantras in cricket is when things are going good you maximise, because when things are going bad it’s very hard to play yourself out of a slump.”But reaching halfway off and hearing the applause and seeing some people standing, I took a step back and just enjoyed the feeling, raised my bat and looked around. It was a very good feeling, I felt at home and really appreciated it.”Unlike the MCG’s BBL derby or even the first day of this match, a rainy afternoon at the SCG was only ever going to draw a crowd of the most committed fans to the grand old ground. Their affirmation of Brathwaite was genuine and touching, for in his attitude to the game many of the gathering saw a hint of their own delight in the game, and their own desire to see it played this way.

Dean Elgar has provided a forceful defence of South Africa’s coaching staff, who have taken a public battering in the aftermath of the team’s back to back series defeats. Head coach Russell Domingo and his slew of support staff were most heavily criticised by former captain Graeme Smith who questioned whether the management was getting the best out of the players and directing them in the right way. Elgar insisted they are.”My words are pretty firm. What’s been said in the media is quite wrong and a little bit hurtful. Our management deserve a lot more respect, especially by those guys who have worked with them before,” he said. “People don’t know what our management team do behind closed doors, with regards to their work ethic and giving guys freedom to prepare their own way. They have ticked all the boxes in my eyes.”Elgar found no fault with either preparation or personnel although he conceded a full-time batting coach could be a welcome addition to a backroom staff that includes two bowling coaches. “Our preparation has been brilliant. That’s a non-negotiable for us,” he said. “I do think a specialist batting coach would add a lot of value. I know there have been a few guys asked to help us, to a bit of a negative response. Even though you are playing for South Africa, you sometimes do need that little bit of fine-tuning from someone else that is just observing from the sidelines. I do think there will be a benefit for one in the squad. With regards to who it would be, I’m not sure.”South Africa have been through three batting consultants, Gary Kirsten, Mike Hussey and Smith, who played under Domingo for nine months between June 2013 and March 2014. In that time, South Africa drew a Test series against Pakistan in the UAE, beat India at home and lost to Australia. That period also saw the retirement of Jacques Kallis before Smith signed off from the international stage, putting the team into its greatest transitional period in a decade.At first, it seemed South Africa would cope with the loss of big names. They won a series in Sri Lanka and beat Zimbabwe and West Indies under Hashim Amla. But the frailties began to show in India, where South Africa were beaten 3-0 on turning tracks, and the malaise has continued into the England series.Injuries to key members of their pace pack – Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn – have hamstrung then in one department while a misfiring batting line-up, which has been bowled out for their two lowest scores since readmission in the last two series, has handicapped them in the other. As a result, there have been questions asked about the mental strength of the side and whether the behind the scenes dramas including transformation, uncertainty over AB de Villiers’ long-term future and now, the domestic match-fixing scandal is bleeding into performance.Elgar admitted the scrutiny around the team’s performances had not gone unnoticed but insisted the team remained united. “The best is to try and laugh it off. If you let that affect you, it’s taking a few steps back. I’m sure every player will say they don’t read what’s in the media, I do read the media,” he said. “It is disheartening to hear those things in the media but the Test side is a tight unit. I know that the cricket doesn’t reflect that, but we are. I can vouch for that. It is a little bit unpleasant hearing it in the media. That’s their opinions. I know from where I sit the Proteas are a strong unit.”South Africa’s coach Russell Domingo is under pressure after a string of poor results•Gallo Images

But they are also a changing unit, and that may be the biggest difference between them and a settled England side. “The English players seem to know their game very well. Two years ago, they were in a similar position to us. They were getting a beating by Australia or another team. Their players have adapted very quickly. It seems like they know their role very well.”They have a lot of impact players within their side. Ben Stokes adds a huge advantage with bat and ball and fielding at gully. They’re also a very experienced unit. Especially with ball in hand, you can see they know their stuff. They’re highly skilled and focused and they know what to do on the international circuit.”South Africa’s experience has been whittled down to that extent that even Elgar, who has only played 24 Tests, is now considered part of a senior core, especially when it comes to the top two. Given that Elgar is the experienced opener he is expected to anchor the innings, something he wants to work harder on.”I have been reasonably happy but in the same breath very frustrated as well. I’ve got three 40s, which if people know me, that really grinds me,” he said. “I would rather go out for zero than in the 40s or 50s, when the hard work has been done. All you have to do then is apply yourself a little bit more. There are still two more innings in the series and I’ll try and make it count.”If he can, it may strengthen his case as a candidate for the Test captaincy, which will be decided on during the winter break. De Villiers remains the frontrunner for the job but Elgar, who could have more years left than de Villiers, has been picked to lead the South African A side against England in a fifty-over warm-up match and may now start mulling the possibility of the main job.”Since school cricket I was someone that wanted to lead from the front. I wanted to be the best in the side. It was something that was drilled into me from a young age. Irrespective of who you are playing against. It’s about pride,” he said. “If it had to come my way, it’s something I will have to think long and hard about. I don’t think it’s something that’s very easy. I know it’s something a lot of guys take very seriously.”

Burnley new boy Dean Marney is hoping to help the Clarets challenge for an immediate return to the Premier League next season.

The 26-year-old has signed a three-year contract at Turf Moor, having spent the last four seasons with the Tigers, scoring nine goals in 138 appearances.

Marney told the Lancashire evening Telegraph:"Everybody wants to play in the Premier League, it's regarded as the best league in the world.

"I definitely want to get back and definitely feel I can do it with Burnley.

"The Championship is a really tough league, everyone knows that, but with the quality of the squad I'm sure if we all play to the best of our ability we are as good as anyone and I'm sure we will do really well.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

"It's a strong squad. I'm looking forward to pre-season and getting to know the lads and I'm really looking forward to the challenge. I just can't wait to get going now."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Everton chairman Bill Kenwright has confirmed that he and manager David Moyes have held talks with Mikel Arteta to try and persuade the Spanish playmaker to stay with the Toffees.

The 28-year-old former Rangers and Real Sociedad schemer has been at Goodison Park since January 2005, making well over 150 appearances for Everton in all competitions.

However, rumours of a summer move, possibly back to Spain, continue to do the rounds, with Kenwright confirming that Arteta’s future is in some doubt.

He told the Liverpool Daily Post:“It is true that David and myself have spoken to Mikel on a couple of occasions this summer and tried to persuade him his future lies with us.

“We earnestly believe that is still the case.”

Arsenal and Manchester City are among the clubs who have been mentioned as possible bidders for the talented midfielder.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

The Netherlands might not have played anything resembling Total Football in their run to the World Cup final but, in attempting to negate Spain, Bert van Marwijk’s team employed an unexpectedly physical approach that disappointed millions of football fans across the globe. They had hoped that a side featuring Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder would look to take on Spain’s tiki-taka style in an open contest, but instead the Dutch resorted to spoiling tactics. They lost anyway.

The Dutch’s aggressive tackling saw them amass seven yellow cards, with Johnny Heitinga being dismissed for two further bookings of his own. Many people have lambasted the Netherlands for the negative way in which they contested the final but their harshest critic has been Johan Cruyff, the nation’s finest footballing export. He has railed against the way the Oranje played: “This ugly, vulgar, hard, hermetic, hardly eye-catching, hardly football style, yes it served the Dutch to unsettle Spain. If with this they got satisfaction, fine, but they ended up losing.

“They were playing anti-football.”

That Cruyff held Holland’s methods to be unedifying is his own opinion, but for him to label those methods as being in opposition to the very nature of the sport is especially interesting. “Anti-football” is an increasingly common term. Arsene Wenger used it at Old Trafford last August to criticise Manchester United’s approach against Arsenal. The Frenchman reserved special attention for what he saw as persistent fouling by Darren Fletcher when complaining that Sir Alex Ferguson’s team had been more concerned with stopping Arsenal than playing constructively themselves. On Sunday, the Netherlands attempted to break up possession whenever Spain had the ball. They tackled often and they tackled hard. If free kicks and yellow cards were the result then this was preferable to allowing the Spanish to dictate the game in open play, van Marwijk must have reasoned. Disrupting the rhythm of Vicente del Bosque’s team, Holland’s coach had decided, would offer them their best hope of victory.

Negative, yes. Destructive, yes. But anti-football? I think not. In fact, I disagree with the term fundamentally. If anti-football does exist in a tactical sense, then to define the system in such a reductive, pejorative way is unfair. Van Marwijk had every right to deploy the tactics that he did in order to try to win the game.

Anti-football is, loosely, a style of football in which the aim is to completely counteract the approach of your opponents at the expense of your own attacking endeavours. However, this does not mean that anti-football, or any defensively-minded way of playing for that matter, somehow operates outside the spirit of the game. It is negative but not malevolent. No, anti-football forms an integral part of the game; without it the sport would be lacking something. It remains an effective style of play because no team has ever perfected a way to circumvent it. At the same time, anti-football pushes coaches towards devising ever more creative ways of playing, enhancing the sport. We just need to call it something better than “anti-football”.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Written By William Abbs

Reported West Ham transfer target Aaron Mokoena has revealed he has been offered contracts by three unnamed Premier League clubs.

The South Africa defender is out of contract at Portsmouth following a last season which ended in relegation for the south coast club.

The 29-year-old has spent the last two months in South Africa, where he made three World Cup appearances for the tournament hosts.

He is now back in England and keen to resolve his club future.

Mokoena captained Pompey last season when new Hammers boss Avram Grant was in charge at Fratton Park.

"I have to confess my heart is still there at Portsmouth and they are offering me a new contract if I remain with the club," he said.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

"I can confirm that there are a number of offers from several big clubs – three in the English Premiership, two in Qatar and one in Turkey.

"There are a number of things I am still assessing, though, and I will decide sometime next week."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email