Sunday 8 July 2018 17:07, UK
Joe Hart opted not to watch England play Sweden in their World Cup quarter-final on Saturday, playing cricket for his hometown club Shrewsbury instead.
Hart batted at number nine, scoring six runs before being out caught as Shrewsbury drew their home Birmingham League Premier Division match against Knowle & Dorridge.
Hart, who played cricket for his local club as a youngster before focusing on football, also held a catch to remove visiting batsman Ethan Brookes in his first game back in 13 years.
Hart was omitted from Gareth Southgate's 23-man squad for the summer tournament in Russia after a tough couple of seasons following off the back of making two costly errors at Euro 2016 when he was England's No 1.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola dropped Hart down the pecking order when he arrived at the Etihad Stadium in 2016, sending him out on loan to Torino for the 2016-17 season and West Ham last year. The 31-year-old is due to return to City for pre-season training next week.
Hart has 75 caps for England and played in nine of their 10 World Cup qualifiers, but missed out on a squad place for the finals as Jordan Pickford, Jack Butland and Nick Pope were all given the nod ahead of him, with Pickford since excelling as No 1 in Russia.
Pickford saved a Carlos Bacca penalty as England edged out Colombia in a shoot-out in the last 16, and then pulled off three terrific saves in the 2-0 quarter-final win over Sweden.
England play Croatia in the semi-final stage on Wednesday with the hope of reaching a first final, on Sunday, since winning on home soil in 1966.
