EARL STILL LEARNING FROM BAT AND (THE ROUND) BALL

School pal Crawley and Burnley boss Kompany make big impact on England's World Cup hopeful

- ADAM HATHAWAY

BEN EARL has taken inspiration from the cream of football and cricket as he bids to nail a World Cup spot.

The Saracens flanker was all ears when Burnley manager and Manchester City legend Vincent Kompany pitched up at the England camp in Surrey last week.

And he was glued to the TV as his old schoolmate Zak Crawley pummelled the Australian bowling for 189 in the Old Trafford Test match.

Kompany was invited by head coach Steve Borthwick to talk to the England squad about the importance of preparation. And the Belgian made a huge impression on Earl as England tuned up for the first warm-up game against Wales on August 5.

"It really resonated," said the 25-year-old. "He got this slideshow out and showed us a pre-season fixture that he wasn't happy with. There was a review of that and he talked about stuff he hangs his hat on.