SOMERSET Academy cricketers Tom Banton and Tom Lammonby will be hoping that the home comforts of Taunton can help England’s Under-19s claim a first win against India at the last attempt today.

India are 4-0 up in the Royal London One-Day Series after winning both of the four-day matches against England at the start of their tour.

But England produced their best performance in Bristol on Monday before rain condemned them to an agonising one-run defeat under the DLS Method.

Lammonby, the youngest member of the squad after turning 17 in June, moved to the top of the batting averages by making an intelligent half century – and the all-rounder from Exeter then pulled off a stunning boundary catch to dismiss Shubman Gill in India’s reply.

Banton, who made his first two senior appearances for Somerset in this season’s NatWest T20 Blast, had made England’s first half century of the series in the previous match in Hove – and although he was ruled out in Bristol by a minor hamstring problem, the former King’s Taunton pupil is hopeful that he will be fit to return on his home county ground.

“It would be a great feeling for both me and Tom to represent England at Taunton,” Banton confirmed.

“It’s been a valuable experience for both of us. The skill level and consistency of the Indians is the best I’ve ever played against.

"For us as a team it’s excellent to test ourselves – but obviously there’s a negative side to that as well when we’ve been losing.

“There have been glimpses, but we haven’t played to our best, and our consistency hasn’t quite been there.

"But it was nice for me to finally contribute something at Hove.

"And Tom has been playing as the main all-rounder, and doing really well.

“Hopefully we can finish things off with a win in Taunton.”

Banton, Lammonby and Fin Trenouth, who was drafted into the England squad as cover in the early stages of the series, are also hoping for selection for the ICC Under-19 World Cup which will be held in New Zealand in early 2018.

There will be plenty of familiar faces for Somerset supporters in the England set-up, with one former county coach Andy Hurry in charge of the Young Lions, and Kevin Shine also part of the staff as the ECB’s lead fast-bowling coach.

They are captained by Harry Brook, who played for Yorkshire against Somerset in the recent Specsavers County Championship match at Scarborough, and fast bowler Matt Potts has also played first-team cricket for Durham this summer.

India have been captained by Prithvi Shaw, who has earned comparisons with Sachin Tendulkar for his prolific run-scoring exploits as a schoolboy – which included an innings of 546 as a 14-year-old in a junior match in Mumbai four years ago.

This will be the third Youth One Day International to be hosted in Taunton.

In August 2002 the County Ground hosted two games between England Under 19s and India, both of which the visitors won by one wicket.

In July 2011 England played South Africa in which Jamie Overton appeared and claimed two wickets, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the visitors winning by one wicket.

Entry to the match (11am start) is free to Somerset members, while for non-members it will cost £5 for adults and £3 for Under-16s.

The Stragglers Coffee House will be open throughout the day for food, along with the County Room and the Ice Cream Parlour.

Full England squad: Harry Brook (Yorkshire, capt), Liam Banks (Warwickshire), Tom Banton (Somerset, wk), Henry Brookes (Warwickshire), Adam Finch (Worcestershire), Alfie Gleadall (Derbyshire), Will Jacks (Surrey), Tom Lammonby (Somerset), Felix Organ (Hampshire), Liam Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire), Jack Plom (Essex), Matt Potts (Durham), Hamidullah Qadri (Derbyshire), Oli Robinson (Kent, wk), Liam Trevaskis (Durham).