Mears was a member of England's 2007 World Cup squad

Bath and England hooker Lee Mears has signed a new four-year deal at The Rec.

The 29-year-old has spent his entire career at the current Premiership leaders, making 174 appearances.

"We have produced a Bath team now that can really challenge for some silverware," said Mears. "We really want to impose ourselves.

"We won the European Challenge Cup last season, and now we want to compete for the Guinness Premiership and the Heineken Cup."

In his testimonial year at Bath, Mears made his England debut when he came on as a substitute against Samoa in 2005 and has gone on to win 25 caps.

He went on the England tour to New Zealand this summer and in July was named in manager Martin Johnson's first elite player squad.

"Lee has always been a very good thrower at the line-out, and he is a very good scrummager, but his game around the park has definitely evolved," said Bath forwards coach Mark Bakewell.

"If you look at his performance last weekend against Toulouse, you can see he really is superb.

"He is creating a lot of attacking play. He is devoted to what he does and you can see that every week that he plays."

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