There seems to be something about the London air at this time of the year that appeals to Leicestershire's young batters.

Last year Josh Cobb produced a brilliant maiden first-class century against Middlesex at Lord's in August.

On Saturday, south of the Thames at the Brit Oval, James Taylor rewrote the County record books with a magnificent unbeaten 207.

It is the highest score made by a Leicestershire batsman against Surrey, beating Ben Smith's 204 in the title-winning season of 1998.

The 19-year-old becomes the youngest player to hit a double century for County.

The statistics of 324 balls faced with 21 boundaries and a brace of sixes are impressive enough but barely do Taylor justice, such was the sustained quality of his batting.

He shared in century partnerships with HD Ackerman and Tom New then brought the curtain down on the innings as he added an unbroken 230 for the sixth wicket with Jacques du Toit.

"To score a double century in my first proper season is great," said Taylor. "It sets me up for the rest of August when there is a lot of cricket to be played. Now I just want to keep going and continue that form."

The England Under-19 star rarely looked in trouble on a good batting surface at the Oval.

"I started well, which is always a good thing," he said. "I stuck to my game-plan which was to play as straight as possible and leave the balls I didn't need to play.

"I was patient to begin with to get myself in and the first 50 was quite slow. But, once I was in, I had the confidence to play my shots."

And there was no question of nerves getting the better of him as his ton approached, despite the size of the Oval stage. "I don't get nervous at all. I find it quite exciting to be in the 90s and looking forward to getting a milestone," he said.

Having reached three figures for the second time in the Championship, Taylor said he was determined to build from there. "I had a good chat at lunch with Boeta Dippenaar about converting 100s into big 100s. A failure can be just around the corner so, when you are in good nick, you need to make hay and score runs."

Praise also has to go to du Toit, who was called in to the side for his first Championship game of the season in place of Jim Allenby. He did not disappoint with a fluent unbeaten ton in the monster stand with Taylor which took County to 593-5, their highest total at the Oval.

"Batting with HD and Tom helped me a lot," added Taylor added. "I haven't batted that much with Jacques but we got on and communicated well and scored fairly freely."