Mark Robinson, England women's head coach, admitted his team "had no answers" to the onslaught from Australia's new-ball pair after being blown away for 75 in the third ODI. A 194-run defeat at Canterbury has left England 6-0 down in the Women's Ashes and needing to virtually win every match to reclaim the trophy.

Ellyse Perry starred with 7 for 22 - record figures for Australia - while Megan Schutt claimed two of the other three wickets to fall while sending down nine overs for 21. Having clawed Australia's innings back to 269 for 7, England never got close to a record chase.

Heather Knight, England's captain, admitted that the batting had been "not good enough", as they slipped to 21 for 6 on the way to their third-lowest total in women's ODIs. Having also been 19 for 4 in the first match, which Australia won by two wickets, Robinson said his players needed to find a way to combat the visitors' attack.

"It's hard to put it into words," he told Sky Sports. "The first half was okay, we fought hard, at one point it looked like 320-30 and we did well, so 270 and what looked like the best wicket we'd played on. So we had high hopes at halftime but within half an hour those hopes are dead.

"The better team puts you under pressure for sustained periods, they maintain an area and a length - the lesser teams let you off with a four-ball here and there. The better teams don't do that, at the moment Perry and Schutt have bowled outstandingly well and we've had no answers, which is disappointing. It's an attack we've done well against previously, so it's surprising that in two of the three games we've been falling over so quickly."

Knight said that the team had to have "honest conversations" about what had gone wrong and focus on getting back into the series in the Test at Taunton, which is worth four points.

"Not good enough. It's very tough to take, because a lot of girls are hurting in that dressing room. Australia bowled well, they came at us hard and we didn't really have an answer to that. We haven't started how we wanted to with the bat, we haven't found a way to start our innings and get our feet going."

With Australia holding the Ashes, England have to win the series outright - something they can only do by winning the Test and at least two of the T20Is. A draw at Taunton would be enough for Australia to claim an unassailable lead and extend their hold on the Ashes, which they regained in 2015.

Test cricket will pose different challenges, because the women play the format so infrequently. While there is the potential for personnel changes, with England playing Australia A and their academy team taking on the Australians in warm-up matches, Robinson said there was no need for drastic measures.

"The first thing is you've got to be calm," he said. "They're hurting, they'll want to do better, they're desperate to do better, so there's no point shouting and bawling. We've got to make sure we stay calm and we try and get back on track, get some simplicity into the play. Maybe the tempo of the Test match will help us... We've got to take stock, hopefully regroup and come back stronger."

Robinson also said that he was hopeful Katherine Brunt would be fit to play a part in the rest of the Ashes. Veteran allrounder Brunt twisted her ankle during the second ODI and was not fit enough to be included at Canterbury.

"We're hoping so. She's a warrior, she did brilliantly to go out on the pitch the other day, epitomises the heart of the team, and we just hope she's back. She's a hard girl to replace but we're going to have to find a way soon because she's in her twilight years now."