Bent missed out on a place in the squad for the 2006 World Cup finals but his good form will have been noted by England coach Fabio Capello.
Bent had an afternoon to remember against his former club on Saturday as Sunderland ended Spurs's five-match winning Premier League run with a 3-1 victory.
He opened the scoring with the season's fastest Premier League goal after 36 seconds, made it 2-0 from the penalty spot 20 minutes later then saw his former team-mate Heurelho Gomes save his next two penalties.
Although he has scored more than England's other World Cup striker hopefuls - Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Emile Heskey and Carlton Cole - the 24-year-old Bent is keeping an open mind about his chances of being selected when Capello names his 23-man squad at the beginning of June.
"I'd had a good season and all the way through I was thinking to myself 'I can't be that far away, don't worry about it.' When the phone-call came, it was like 'whoah, I'm not going to the World Cup'" he told reporters after Saturday's match.
"I've dealt with it before, if I don't go again, I'll just kick on again. I can't be that far. If I am then I'll have to hold my hands up and say 'I wasn't quite good enough'"
He scored 25 goals in 79 games there in two seasons, but never fully justified the club's record fee of 16.5 million pounds they handed to Charlton for him in 2007.
"Even though I have scored so many goals, there don't seem to be too many people saying I am going. But I'll keep trying to deliver. Hopefully that will be good enough," he said.
