Sarah Taylor looks back at the previous World Twenty20s and ahead to this month's edition
By Dominic Farrell
Sarah Taylor hopes the pain of final defeat two years ago can inspire England Women to World Twenty20 glory in Bangladesh.
Wicketkeeper-batter Taylor was part of the England team that stormed to the maiden world title in the sprint format on home soil in 2009.
Their defence the following year in the Caribbean did not go to plan but Charlotte Edwards’ side were back on song during the 2012 edition in Sri Lanka, winning four consecutive matches before falling to a last-ball defeat against defending champions Australia in the final.
England have since recorded back-to-back Ashes victories over their rivals but Taylor insists that narrow reverse in Colombo still looms large in her team-mates’ collective psyche.
Speaking exclusively to ecb.co.uk, she said: “It was just that last game. It was a brilliant tournament for us in terms of our performances and the one against Australia was a hard-fought game, the one that we won in the group stages.
“It was just unfortunate that we couldn’t do that (in the final) – it came down to the last ball.
“Overall, it was a good performance but T20 cricket is like that, it goes one way or the other quite quickly. Unfortunately it didn’t go our way.
“I think we’re going to take that hurt and that pain from against Australia and take that with us.”
Games in cricket’s shortest form can easily be decided by a single display of individual brilliance but, when reflecting upon England’s 2009 triumph, Taylor was keen to point towards the importance of the collective and all squad members pulling their weight.
“Everyone’s got to stand up,” she said. “There’s got to be contributions from everyone.
“I don’t think you can have one or two players that you carry through; it’s definitely a whole team performance.
“In 2009 that’s exactly what everyone did. There was so many performances; everyone put their hand up and did a job.
“The youngsters coming through, I think they’ve almost got to be naïve towards the situation and just enjoy it.”
England finished the T20 leg of their multi-format Ashes success Down Under with back-to-back defeats and also came up short in the West Indies earlier this winter.
Taylor believes issues of fitness and fatigue took their toll towards the end of the former tour and is confident the team can hit the ground running in the sub-continent.
“It has been a bit mixed," she added. "There’s been a few changing faces coming in and out, a few injuries and, in Australia, a few players rested and ready for this World Cup.
“I think it’s a case of actually just getting some rhythm building up to these T20 games. We’ve got a couple of warm-up games once we get out there.
“If we can all find our rhythm and find our feet it will hold us in good stead.”