in early 2004, and finished with the second-most runs in the competition, scoring 401 runs at an average of 44.55. From New Zealand, she travelled to South Africa to join up with the England team for five ODIs. After scoring 90 runs in a warm-up contest against an Invitational XI, she finished as England's second most prolific run-scorer behind Edwards, though she only once reached a half-century in the international matches. Back in England for the 2004 Super Fours competition, Taylor and Edwards once more headed the batting tables, Taylor narrowly trailing her international teammate in terms of runs scored, but ahead of her on batting average, having scored 351 runs at 87.75. In the subsequent series against New Zealand, Taylor was the top-scorer in the first Twenty20 International match played by either gender. Despite the quicker-scoring nature of the Twenty20 game, Taylor was praised for her measured batting and placement. In the ODIs, England possessed greater depth in their batting, making the team less reliant on Taylor and Edwards' performances. That depth helped them to win the series 3–2, despite a low-scoring sequence of matches for Taylor in which she averaged below twenty. In preparation for the 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Taylor played her third and final season in the State League, though her 229 runs at an average of 38.16 were the lowest she achieved in any year of the competition. During a short warm-up series against South Africa, she enjoyed batting success, scoring 94 and 47 in the two ODIs, and then an unbeaten 166 runs against a side from Gauteng and North West. After the first round of matches were all lost to rain, Taylor struck the highest score of the tournament in England's second match, against Sri Lanka. She scored 136 runs from 128 balls, and shared century partnerships with both Edwards and Clare Connor to help England record a large victory. She made little impact against India in the next match, but then scored 55 not out against South Africa and 46 against New Zealand to help ensure England's qualification for the semi-finals. Cricinfo reported that Australia were "undoubted favourites" for their semi-final clash with England, and that Taylor would be one of her side's key players for the contest. After the early loss of Laura Newton, Taylor was dismissed for the third duck of her ODI career, and England