Watch: Defoe bags 1st England goal in 1,465 days vs. Lithuania
Class is permanent.
Jermain Defoe, 34, took just 21 minutes to score his first England goal in four years and four days in Sunday's visit from Lithuania after being teed up by Raheem Sterling at Wembley.
The Sunderland striker becomes the 22nd player to reach the 20-goal landmark for the Three Lions, and he's now bagged seven in his last eight England starts - a run which started with a 4-0 defeat of Bulgaria on Sept. 3, 2010. The survivors from that squad available for duty against Lithuania are just Defoe and Joe Hart.
Defoe (34-170) is 6th oldest goalscorer for @England after J.Charlton, Lampard, Sheringham, Finney and oldest: Matthews (41-248 in 1956).
— Gracenote Live (@GracenoteLive) March 26, 2017
Defoe's afternoon began in respectable fashion as well, when captain Hart insisted upon the veteran forward and Bradley Lowery, the young Sunderland fan battling terminal cancer, leading the side out in the Home of Football.
Related - Watch: Jermain Defoe, Bradley Lowery lead England out at Wembley
Defoe put himself back into international consideration for England after scoring 14 of bottom-placed Sunderland's 24 goals in the Premier League, and in the wake of injuries to Harry Kane and Daniel Sturridge, and the falling down the pecking order of Wayne Rooney.