The cheers from ecstatic England cricket fans in Nottingham had barely quietened when, just a short drive away in Wolverhampton, the booing from the country’s football supporters reached an angry crescendo. It would be hard to imagine two more contrasting sporting performances by England’s respective national teams than those produced on Tuesday.

At Trent Bridge, England delivered one of their greatest Test match victories, with Jonny Bairstow smashing an astounding century off 77 balls, against New Zealand, as a second innings target of 299 was chased down in 50 exhilarating overs of attacking cricket.

A few hours later, 96km across the Midlands in Wolverhampton, England’s football team suffered their worst home defeat in 94 years with a miserable, lifeless performance in a humiliating 4-0 loss to Hungary in the Nations League.

The football team had been enjoying a rare extended period of stability and relative success. Under manager Gareth Southgate they reached the final of Euro 2020, held last year, three years after making the semi-finals of the World Cup, their best finish since 1990.

Southgate made nine changes from the team that drew with Italy at the weekend to give some fringe players a chance. But despite dominating possession, England created few chances and the experiment backfired against a Hungary team who beat them in Budapest earlier in the month and were out for blood again.

“Tonight is a chastening experience,” Southgate said, after last year’s national heroes as European Championship finalists were booed off at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton.

Hungary’s Roland Sallai began the rout when he controlled the ball on his knee after a miscued header from John Stones before drilling past Aaron Ramsdale in the 16th minute.

Sallai scored a second in the 70th minute with a perfect finish with the outside of his boot after Kalvin Phillips lost a tackle. Zsolt Nagy chipped Ramsdale and Daniel Gazdag drove from distance into the corner for two late goals that heaped pain on England.

The priority for Southgate and England is November’s World Cup in Qatar, not the relatively minor Nations League. However, the angry response of fans in Wolverhampton, who chanted “you don’t know what you are doing” at the England boss, reflects a broader unease about the team under his charge.

The thrust of the criticism has been that Southgate’s team formation is too defensive and does not harness the attacking flair that is available to him.

England captain Harry Kane, who provided some of England’s few moments of quality and hit the bar with a header, acknowledged his side’s second half capitulation was “unacceptable” but also urged fans to be forgiving.

“It’s our first big defeat in a long time. It’s not time to panic, it’s time to keep our heads up,” he said. “A night to forget but we have to take it on the chin and move forward, prepare for a big World Cup, ... Let’s not forget where we’ve come from.”