JACK Cork is hoping to be cheering on at least two Burnley players with England at this summer’s World Cup, even though he does not expect to be among them.

The Clarets midfielder earned his first Three Lions cap as an 86th minute substitute in November’s goalless draw with Germany in a friendly at Wembley.

But after being called up for that game and the friendly with Brazil on the back of some impressive performances in claret and blue, he missed out on selection for friendlies against Holland last Friday and Italy on Tuesday night.

He is not expecting to be heading for Russia now, given this was Gareth Southgate’s last look at the options at his disposal before naming his squad.

But Cork is confident that Burnley can be well represented at this summer’s tournament after goalkeeper Nick Pope and defender James Tarkowski earned their first international call-ups, while Tom Heaton is closing in on first team contention after over six months out with a dislocated shoulder.

“It’s really good for them. They’ve done really well this season and have been great for us and they’ve both deserved the call-up,” said Cork of Tarkowski - who made his England debut against Italy on Tuesday and impressed in playing the full 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw at Wembley despite giving away a late VAR assisted penalty - and Pope, who was an unused sub.

“Heats probably would have been in the squad if he was fit so for Popey to come in, he probably wasn’t expecting to play many Premier League games so to do as well as that and also get a call-up is crazy.

“They’re both great goalkeepers. Popey has been spectacular for us, some of the saves he’s made have been great for us.

“And Tarks brings that physicality and that confidence on the ball.

“I think you can see by the size of him, him and (Harry) Maguire are big centre halves but if you look at how they do play they’re great with the ball. He’s a similar sort of player to Maguire.

“He’s done great. I wasn’t here last year but I think Keano (Michael Keane) and Ben (Mee) limited his chances so for him to come in and slot straight in and produce some of the performances he has done this season has been great for someone of his age.

“They must have seen that Tarks had the ability to do that and he’s impressed me since I’ve been here.

“It does help if you’ve had the games coming through from youth level (with England) but I think his form and what he’s done this season speaks for itself.

“Everyone can see the quality he’s got.”

Cork is not expecting to be part of Southgate’s plans after his cameo appearance.

But while he maintains aspirations for future England caps, he will be backing the Three Lions this summer regardless.

“I’m English aren’t I,” he smiled.

“I wasn’t involved in any of the qualifying games, I didn’t do all the hard graft that the others had to do, I was involved in the friendlies based on how we’d been doing as a team and how I’ve been doing. I’m grateful that I got that opportunity.

“I’ll probably be supporting them more than ever because I was involved in the team.

“I would love to do them do well.

“Yes. I was just really happy to get that first cap. It was just based on how we were doing as a team and how I was doing personally. I would love to be back involved, we just have to see how things go and what the manager sees and what’s next.”