It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing, is a famous jazz song written by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills.

I feel the same about friendlies – a necessary evil, but sport is about competition.

For England’s footballers (currently in a week of friendly internationals) and the England cricketers, it is all about this month’s Euros and the Twenty20 World Cup respectively.

England’s football squad played Bosnia-Herzegovina at St James’ Park in Newcastle last night before meeting Iceland at Wembley on Friday (Channel 4).

Then it’s the real stuff with the Euro 2024 group stage: Serbia on Sunday week (8pm UK time on BBC), June 20 versus Denmark (5pm BBC) and Slovenia on June 25 (8pm ITV).

Then on, hopefully, to the quarter and semi-finals before the final on July 14.

Gareth Southgate and his talented players will be judged on those this month and hopefully into July. I think this is our best chance of winning a major tournament since the 1966 World Cup.

England always start with high hopes but this time it is justified.

England’s cricketers are defending their Twenty20 World Cup title –starting this afternoon at the Kensington Oval in Barbados against Scotland (3.30pm UK time, with all the matches shown on........

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