OLIVER HOLT: Harry Kane’s double act with Jude Bellingham can still steal the show for England at Euro 2024 – let’s hope so after they managed just ONE pass to each other against Slovenia!

It turns out that in addition to winning the Champions League in his first season at Real Madrid, winning La Liga and being named the best player in Spanish football, all before celebrating his 21st birthday on Saturday, Jude Bellingham can also do a little bowling.

English footballers warm up before training by playing cricket. This is a nice reversal of the fact that English cricketers used to warm up before training by playing football, until it got too exciting and the tackles too tasty.

England captain Harry Kane smiled as he spoke about the current pre-training routine and how Aaron Ramsdale, a decent batsman, was annoyed that the FA’s social media team had only posted footage of him being dismissed.

“Jude came in today to shoot some balls in,” Kane said, “so a few guys got a little bit, to be honest. It was fun.’

The Bellingham bulletin was a welcome bit of news, even if England do not play Slovakia in cricket in their round of 16 tie in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday. It suggests that after an uncharacteristically lethargic performance against Slovenia in Cologne, the England wonderkid is ready to go again.

Kane spoke highly of Bellingham’s cricket skills after the Three Lions stars enjoyed a match

Bellingham and Kane have yet to work together on a football pitch, having completed just one pass to each other in the draw against Slovenia

Kane also had words of reassurance for him. Bellingham’s new advanced role for England has seen him in the same positional areas as the England captain, who often drops deep to receive the ball, and there are concerns that England’s top two players have not yet found a way to work together.

In the goalless draw with Slovenia, Kane and Bellingham exchanged just one pass. It came in the 53rd minute when Bellingham slid a short ball to Kane for him to cross from the left. In the previous match against Denmark, they also exchanged the princely sum of one pass. That time, Kane laid the ball off to Bellingham.

Before England left their base in rural Thuringia yesterday to travel to Gelsenkirchen, Kane was asked if he had spoken to Bellingham about the issue and the apparent lack of on-field chemistry between the two players.

Kane played a defensive forward role but was happy to talk about how he thinks their partnership will improve as they get used to Bellingham’s role behind the frontman. Kane’s message was basically: don’t worry about Jude.

“From a captain’s perspective, I always talk to all the players,” Kane said, “and with Jude we always talk about how we can improve. We watched clips of the Denmark game to see how we can play better.

“We would have liked to play better and have had more connection, but I still feel like the movement is there. We are moving really well and I thought it was a lot better than the first two games.

‘The relationship is still quite new. Even though we’ve played together a bit, there are still things we can both do better. We hope we grow more and more as the tournament progresses. From Jude’s point of view, he should just keep doing what he’s doing.

‘In tournament football, many things happen very quickly. In the first game he was the best player and man of the match and in the last few games none of us have reached the level we really wanted.

‘It’s two games. It’s not the end of the world. I know things are being hyped up and there’s a lot of talk about it, but that’s part of playing for England in a big tournament. Jude has handled this incredibly well for his age. He has dealt with going to Real Madrid very well for his age.

“So there’s no worry about Jude. He’s a great guy, he believes in himself 100 percent and from both points of view we want to go out there tomorrow and raise our level.”

Bellingham remains England’s most dangerous player despite slow start to European Championship

England would love Bellingham to return to the level of football he played at Real Madrid

England players sang happy birthday to Bellingham as he turned 21 on Saturday, before meeting fans who also wished him well

Bellingham remains the most dangerous player in England’s arsenal if he can return to the form he showed for Madrid last season. It is sobering to think how much he has achieved before turning 21 at the England base on Saturday.

The other players serenaded him with a rendition of Happy Birthday before training and Southgate hopes Bellingham reaching the official age of maturity will be a sign he can return to action against the Slovaks.

Bellingham started the tournament with flying colors. He won England’s opening match against Serbia almost single-handedly, scoring the winning goal with a brilliant, brave header.

Kane scored the only other goal of England’s European Championship campaign, a close-range effort against Denmark.

“We got into better areas against Slovenia,” Kane said, “and just lacked that killer instinct in the box, or with the cross or the pass. Tomorrow will be a little bit different, but ultimately it’s about having that discipline in your positions, in the areas where we’re patient enough and can hurt them.

‘I feel like we’ve been ruthless on the defensive side, in terms of blocks, crosses and winning balls, and now it’s up to me, the attacking players and maybe the midfielders to be a bit more ruthless in the final third of the field. .’

That ruthlessness could of course extend to having to be clinical from the spot in a penalty shootout now that England have reached the knockout stages. England have expert penalty takers in the squad in Cole Palmer and Ivan Toney, should they be needed, and Kane remains England’s first choice.

Kane joked that he had not thought about his missed penalty against France in the 2022 World Cup

“It’s probably the most experienced group of users we’ve had,” Kane said. “I have a technique that I’ve always used and I’m not changing it.

‘I go through the process, I look at the goalkeeper and consider which penalty is best in that situation. Then I execute it as best as possible on the day itself.’

He was asked if he still thought about the missed penalty against France in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar.

Kane made a comical face. “I didn’t think about it until now,” he said.