We lost wickets at crucial times - Sarah Taylor on MCG defeat https://t.co/G5qbDoLRYm via @audioboo#womensashes
— England Cricket (@ECB_cricket) January 23, 2014
Sarah Taylor has urged England to put yesterday's loss in the second one-day international behind them as they aim to retain the Women’s Ashes at Hobart on Sunday.
Taylor admitted the tourists produced their worst fielding display of the multi-format series during Australia’s 26-run win in a day/nighter at the MCG.
Among several dropped chances were two reprieves for opener Nicole Bolton early in her innings and the international debutant went on to score 124 of 266 for seven.
Victory leaves the hosts trailing eight points to two, but does not change England needing to avoid defeat in one of the remaining four games to retain the urn.
Taylor told ecb.co.uk: “I think it was just one of those days.
“I think you’ve got to look at it we’ve been brilliant in the field for quite a time now and that’s probably our worst performance in the field, especially of this tour.
“I think it’s just one of those things we need to sweep under the carpet and probably not fret about too much, and going into the next game, a brand new day, fresh start and lets hope we can hold our catches.”
Sunday brings the third and final ODI, a day contest that Australia again must win to keep the series alive.
Wicketkeeper-batter Taylor approaches it on the back of her first significant score of the tour: 63 of England’s 240 all out in 46.2 overs.
“I’ve been struggling with form a little bit,” she admitted.
“You look at the Test match and the first one-dayer and I particularly didn’t do too much with the bat at all.
“It was just a change of mindset to go out there and prove a point. It was nice to get some runs, but I would have liked to be there at the end, scoring the winning runs.”
Having added 84 for the third wicket with half-centurion Heather Knight, Taylor shared 54 alongside Arran Brindle before being run out by Bolton.
Despite Natalie Sciver's 42-ball 57, the tourists could not make it three wins in a row.
“Losing wickets at crucial times, I think that cost us,” said Taylor. “We were always chasing the game. But Sciver did brilliantly to get us quite close and I just think we ran out of wickets in the end.”