Canberra's Ben Taylor was one of the 15 teenage cricketers touring England at the same time as the Australian men's and women's teams as part of the under-19s Youth Ashes series.

The 17-year-old Daramalan student spent five weeks in the UK for the six-match series, and while his team didn't cross paths with the men's Ashes team, they were spurred on by them "to get a bit of pride back".

"In the media, it said a bit of stuff about the men's team, how bad they played – so it was motivation to try and not make that our label [too]," Taylor said.

The youth team – coached by former English cricketer Graeme Hick – was on track to win back some lost pride for Australia but stumbled at the final innings.

The first match, the only test of the series, ended in a draw, and after one of the five one-day matches was rained out, the Aussies were leading 2-1 going into the final limited-overs match.

They set a formidable target of 294 runs for the Brits, but it was chased down with two balls to spare and they had to settle for a drawn series.

"It was a bit disappointing to finish on that note, but it was still a successful tour," Taylor said.

The tall left-arm orthodox spinner, who plays with North Canberra-Gungahlin in the Canberra grade competition, was the most economical of the Australian bowlers in that match, taking 1/39 in his 10 overs against the best young cricketers England has to offer.

"There was good talent in our team obviously too – Jake Doran, who's making a name for himself [playing Big Bash with the Sydney Thunder] and a few other guys you'll definitely be seeing in the future."

For Taylor, it's back to school, and back to grade cricket as he continues to work on his craft and tries to break into the Comets side this season, while still pushing his youth representative chances.

"There's [the Under-19s] World Cup coming up in February [in Bangladesh], so if I can put myself forward for that, that would be great."