subsided to a five-wicket loss. She finished the tournament as one of the top-three batsmen by both runs-scored and average, aggregating 265 runs at 53.00. Further development After the World Cup, Taylor was disheartened by both her own, and England's, lack of success. She bemoaned that the sacrifices she had made had come to nothing, and after talking to psychologists, she realised that she needed to readdress her work–life balance. An amateur violinist, she was accepted into the Reading Orchestra, and by early 2006 was working out of the University of Reading as a performance management consultant. In the English summer of 2005, England hosted Australia for two Test matches and six limited-overs contests. The two Tests formed The Women's Ashes, an accolade that England had not won since 1963. In the first Test, Taylor scored a patient 35 runs in the first innings, and shared a partnership of 81 with Edwards, but the pair fell in quick succession, and England struggled thereafter. In the second innings, England required over 300 runs to win, but their top-order collapsed, losing three wickets for just fourteen runs. Taylor suffered a duck in the match, and only a century by Arran Brindle rescued a draw for her side. In the second Test, which England won to secure the Ashes, Taylor scored 43 runs in the first innings to help England open up a 158-run lead. Taylor finished the five-match ODI series as England's leading run-scorer, totalling 325 runs at an average of 65.00. After hitting half-centuries in the first and the third matches, she was praised by The Daily Telegraph for the quality of her "on-driving and cutting" as she scored 116 runs in the fourth match to level the series 2–2. Taylor, and England, had a difficult tour of Sri Lanka and India in late 2005; after winning the two ODIs against Sri Lanka, England drew the only Test against India and lost the ODI series 4–1. Taylor only scored 76 runs in the seven ODI matches, and made scores of five and three in the Test. She re-found her batting form at the start of the 2006 English cricket season, topping the batting averages in the 2006 Super Fours competition, scoring two centuries and two half-centuries in six matches for the Sapphires. Facing the touring Indians later that summer, Taylor made small totals in her first two appearances at the crease,