Jermain Defoe expressed his relief at cancelling his groin operation after bagging his first England hat-trick in last night's 4-0 UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying win over Bulgaria.

The Tottenham Hotspur striker was all set to spend the international break recovering from surgery after struggling to shake off a long-standing injury at the start of the season.

His club manager Harry Redknapp initially declared that Defoe would miss the international double-header against Bulgaria and Switzerland but eventually decided he could play on after coming through his club's last two games unscathed.

I just want to keep it going, keep getting in the positions where I'm going to score.
Jermain Defoe, England striker

Defoe said of his operation: "I'm glad I didn't have it now! It's been a little bit sore to be honest but I've done a lot of work in the gym - a lot of core work - to try to improve it and tonight I didn't get a reaction."

It did not look that way when Defoe limped off moments after completing his treble but the 27-year-old revealed he had only suffered a kick to his ankle and would be fit for Tuesday's match against the Swiss in Basle. "It's fine. Just a precaution," he said.

Defoe hopes becoming the first England player to score a hat-trick at the new Wembley will help him cement a place in the side for the entire UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying campaign. He added: "I just want to keep it going, keep getting in the positions where I'm going to score."

Doing that last night was made easy thanks to the unselfishness of strike partner Wayne Rooney. Defoe may have stolen the headlines but the match also witnessed Rooney's rebirth as a force on the international stage, the Manchester United star eventually shaking off the cobwebs to have a hand in all four of England's goals.

Rooney was particularly generous in supporting Defoe in his goal glut, something which did not go unacknowledged by Defoe. "It's always nice when you play with a partner and they want you to score the third goal," he said. "When I was on the second, he said to me, 'Keep going and you'll get the hat-trick'. When I did, he was the first one to come over."

He added of his treble: "It's great - what a feeling. It's a fantastic feeling, to score for your country, to score a hat-trick and to win the game."

Despite starting together plenty of times in the past, Defoe and Rooney have never before hit it off in such spectacular fashion. Acknowledging this, Defoe said: "I've always said sometimes it takes time to get things working. In training, we played together all week and it's been very good. He was involved in all my goals - so it was brilliant."