BRIDGWATER cricketer George Bartlett flew out with the England Under-19 squad for their five-week tour of India on Monday, joining fellow Somerset talents Tom Banton and Louie Shaw.

Bartlett, who played club cricket with Bridgwater CC and is now on a one-year full-time contract with Somerset CCC, graduated from the academy last summer.

The batsman, 18, has been involved with the England Under-19s previously and scored a century against Sri Lanka last season.

“It’s really good to have been chosen and I am obviously really excited about it,” he said.

“India is a great place to go and hopefully being out there will help me to develop as a cricketer so I can’t think of anything better to be doing.

“I don’t think that the wickets out there will be too different from the way they were at the end of the season back here at Somerset.

"It will spin quite a lot but they will be good batting wickets in general.”

Bartlett added: “I get back for a few days and then I go off to Spain with the rest of the Somerset squad so I have got a busy time ahead of me.”

The England U19s have serveral ODI fixtures in Mumbai, ahead of a two-match Youth Test series in Chennai, before returning to the UK later in February.