England Under-19 World Cup captain Brad Taylor celebrated his maiden competitive century, scoring an unbeaten 118 as the Hampshire Academy comfortably chased down 245 to beat St Cross Symondians by six wickets on the Ageas Bowl Nursery Ground.
Taylor’s chanceless hundred included one six and 19 fours and guided the Academy to a third straight Southern Premier Division victory.
“It was a terrific knock, but one Brad needs to make if he is to establish himself as an all-rounder in both facets of the game,” remarked Hampshire Head of Player Development, Charlie Freeston.
Taylor lost opening partner Felix Organ without scoring, but shared a century partnership with Under-17 starlet Tom Scriven, who struck 11 boundaries in his 58.
Scriven had made an individual Hampshire junior age group record 288 against Devon in the ECB Under-17 County Championship in his previous knock.
Josh McCoy returned from England Under-19 squad duty against Sri Lanka – he made his debut in the second unofficial ‘Test’ at Northampton this week - to make 43 and add another 87 with Taylor and take the Academy to within sight of victory.
Fittingly, Taylor [pictured by Roy Honeybone] raced through the nineties and on to his unbeaten 118 with a flurry of clean-cut boundaries.
The Academy had seized the initiative during the morning session and had St Cross Symondians struggling at 125-5 at lunch.
Tom Foyle (30) punished anything in the ‘slot’ and smashed it to the boundary rope but, like team-mates Louis Kimber (28), Charlie Ayres (27) and Greg Hollis (26), he made a decent start without progressing.
It left Robbie Hadfield (46 not out) and Brad Aldridge (26) to score important runs after lunch.
But 245 on the Nursery Ground – where Taylor and Chris Searle each took three wickets – was never likely to be competitive and so it proved …
Taylor’s chanceless hundred included one six and 19 fours and guided the Academy to a third straight Southern Premier Division victory.
“It was a terrific knock, but one Brad needs to make if he is to establish himself as an all-rounder in both facets of the game,” remarked Hampshire Head of Player Development, Charlie Freeston.
Taylor lost opening partner Felix Organ without scoring, but shared a century partnership with Under-17 starlet Tom Scriven, who struck 11 boundaries in his 58.
Scriven had made an individual Hampshire junior age group record 288 against Devon in the ECB Under-17 County Championship in his previous knock.
Josh McCoy returned from England Under-19 squad duty against Sri Lanka – he made his debut in the second unofficial ‘Test’ at Northampton this week - to make 43 and add another 87 with Taylor and take the Academy to within sight of victory.
Fittingly, Taylor [pictured by Roy Honeybone] raced through the nineties and on to his unbeaten 118 with a flurry of clean-cut boundaries.
The Academy had seized the initiative during the morning session and had St Cross Symondians struggling at 125-5 at lunch.
Tom Foyle (30) punished anything in the ‘slot’ and smashed it to the boundary rope but, like team-mates Louis Kimber (28), Charlie Ayres (27) and Greg Hollis (26), he made a decent start without progressing.
It left Robbie Hadfield (46 not out) and Brad Aldridge (26) to score important runs after lunch.
But 245 on the Nursery Ground – where Taylor and Chris Searle each took three wickets – was never likely to be competitive and so it proved …