SOMERSET may not have any players among the England parties who are currently involved in a ODI and T20 series against the West Indies but two of the touring part are using bats and equipment supplied by local batmaker Millichamp & Hall who are situated behind the Cricket Museum at the Cooper Associates County Ground.

Tymal Mills is a long established member of the England squad and has been using M&H equipment for a number of years, but John Turner who plays for Hampshire is new to both international cricket and to the batmaker.

Turner who plays for Hampshire has only appeared in 12 T20 matches in which he has taken 22 wickets at and average of 12,22, may have been born in South Africa but he has got strong connections to the west country having attended Exeter University where he was coached by former Somerset batter Alex Barrow.

Before setting off to the Caribbean the young paceman called into collect his bats from M&H owner Rob Chambers.

Turner said: “I picked up one of the M&H bats that Alex had and thought wow I want one of those. When ‘Baz’ told me that they were made just up the road in Taunton I got in touch and they have been kind enough to supply me with all my equipment. Their bats are not only great to play with but they are made by hand in their workshop using local materials which is even better.”

Chambers who has owned M&H since 2000 said: “Its great to be able to support John Turner in this way and also good to have so many international cricketers using our bats. At the last count we had 11 Men and 5 Women including Roelof van den Merwe and Paul Van Meekeren in the recent World Cup.”