Matt Taylor scored a magnificent unbeaten century as Oxfordshire Under 17s won their warm-up match against St Edward’s School by 153 runs.

But the match, a traditional curtain-raiser to the county youth season, was not as one-sided as the scores suggest, and had it not been for a superb last-wicket stand of 86 between Taylor and Liam Hare, Oxon could have been defending a relatively low total.

Winning the toss, Oxon opted to bat first, and they got off to a solid start against some useful seam bowling.

Captain Ross Barrett and Luke Finch shared 35 for the first wicket, Oxford player Finch playing some aggressive shots while Barrett anchored the top of the innings well.

Oxfordshire reached lunch at 105-2, but a collapse after the interval saw them tumble to 120-7 in quick time against some excellent spin bowling from Gloucestershire academy and Oxfordshire Under 15 player Miles Hammond.

This quickly became 152-9, at which point Hare joined Taylor at the crease.

And seeing off the spinners, the duo shared an excellent unbroken stand.

This was dominated by all-rounder Taylor, who played some flamboyant strokes to reach a superb century off just 87 balls.

His knock included 14 fours and a six, while Hare stood firm at the other end with a crucial 15 not out.

In reply, St Edward’s struggled to cope with the extreme pace of Oxon’s opening attack.

Taylor and Tom Nugent took two wickets apiece, before Josh Megson, bowling with great aggression, also grabbed two quick wickets.

The home side were quickly in trouble at 31-7, and although Ollie Smith and Ben Taylor briefly steadied the ship, when they fell, St Edward’s were soon all out for 85.

Oxforshire’s performance augurs well for the tough county season to come, although more application will be needed from the middle order.