A Hucknall company that manufactures bespoke cricket bats is auctioning off two bats signed by the male English and Indian cricket teams at the recent Test Match at Lords.

B3 Cricket, based on Bolsover Street are raising money in honour of a close friend's niece.

Melissa Grace Hatton passed away unexpectedly in her sleep at the age of 24 on Saturday 3 July. There is currently no explanation for the cause of her death.

Miss Hatton was a teacher at Mansfield Primary Academy and the money raised from the sale of the bats will go towards taking Melissa's year 1 pupils on a special residential trip.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, Michael Blatherwick, Managing Director of B3 Cricket said: "I was contacted by a friend of the family who asked if we could provide some cricket bats because another friend of theirs was Enid Bakewell who is a famous woman cricketer, one of the pioneers of women's cricket really, and she'd been invited to ring the starting bell at the Test Match at Lord's so we provided the bats.

"We already had a special sticker for England, and also one for India, so we labelled the bats up accordingly and Enid took them and got them signed by both the England and Indian cricket teams."

Of the sudden passing of Miss Hatton, he added: "I didn't know her personally but I live in Papplewick and she was a member of the Young Farmers, so I knew a lot of people who knew her, and having a daughter of a similar age it really resonated, it's obviously terribly tragic."

The auction is currently live but will close at the end of September. Any bids or enquiries about the auction should be emailed to Mr Blatherwick through this address: [email protected] .

For further information about B3 Cricket, see here .