Keeper Hart gets caught out as his old pals play on

JOE HART opted against cheering on England against Sweden on Saturday and played cricket for hometown club Shrewsbury instead. Hart, omitted from Gareth Southgate’s 23-man squad for Russia, turned out for Shrewsbury Cricket Club while the Three Lions secured their place in the semi-finals with victory over the Swedes. The Manchester City goalkeeper, right, batted at No9 and made six before being caught as Shrewsbury lost by one wicket in their home Birmingham League Premier Division match against Knowle & Dorridge. Hart, who also held a catch to remove visiting batsman Ethan Brookes, played cricket for his local club as a youngster before focusing on his football career at Shrewsbury Town. The 31-year-old has 75 caps for England, but made costly errors at Euro 2016 in the win over Wales and the last-16 defeat against Iceland and has struggled since to recapture his best form. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola dropped Hart down the pecking order when he arrived at the Etihad Stadium in 2016, opting instead for Willy Caballero and Claudio Bravo before signing current No1 Ederson. Hart went out on loan to Torino for the 2016-17 campaign and, after spending last season on loan at West Ham, will return to City for pre-season training next week. He played in nine of England’s 10 World Cup qualifiers but missed out on a place in Southgate’s squad for the finals as Jordan Pickford, Jack Butland and Nick Pope were all given the nod. Hart’s last England appearance was in the goalless draw against Brazil in a friendly at Wembley in November 2017.