Brendan Taylor

Brendan Taylor
Taylor playing for Nottinghamshire in 2015
Personal information
Full name
Brendan Ross Murray Taylor
Born (1986-02-06) 6 February 1986 (age 38)
Harare, Zimbabwe
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm off break
RoleWicket-keeper batsman
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 64)6 May 2004 v Sri Lanka
Last Test7 July 2021 v Bangladesh
ODI debut (cap 80)20 April 2004 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI13 September 2021 v Ireland
ODI shirt no.1
T20I debut (cap 9)28 November 2006 v Bangladesh
Last T20I25 April 2021 v Pakistan
T20I shirt no.1
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2002/03–2005/05Mashonaland
2007/08–2008/09Northerns
2009/10–2020/21Mid West Rhinos
2011/12Wellington
2012–2013Chittagong Kings
2014Sunrisers Hyderabad
2015–2017Nottinghamshire
2019Khulna Titans
2019Lahore Qalandars
2020Kandy Tuskers
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI T20I FC
Matches 34 202 45 136
Runs scored 2,320 6,628 934 9,571
Batting average 36.25 35.63 23.94 40.72
100s/50s 6/12 11/39 0/6 32/36
Top score 171 145* 75* 217
Balls bowled 42 396 30 384
Wickets 0 9 1 4
Bowling average – 45.11 17.00 56.25
5 wickets in innings – 0 0 0
10 wickets in match – 0 0 0
Best bowling – 3/54 2/36 2/36
Catches/stumpings 30/0 132/29 20/2 148/4
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 13 September 2021

Brendan Ross Murray Taylor (born 6 February 1986) is a Zimbabwean former international cricketer and a former Zimbabwean captain, who played all formats of the game.[1] Taylor is a right-handed batsman but is also an off spinner. In 2015, former Zimbabwe captain Alistair Campbell described Taylor as "our standout player for the last seven or eight years".[2] He is known for his unorthodox shots especially his ability to play upper cuts over the third man and ramp shots with elegance and are often considered as his trademark signature shots.[3] His style of play and ability to make substantial contribution with the bat often drew comparisons with that of Andy Flower. He represented Zimbabwe in four ICC T20 World Cup tournaments in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2014.[4][5] Also, he represented Zimbabwe in three ICC ODI world cups as well in 2007, 2011 and 2015.

He captained Zimbabwe in ODIs until 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, having taken over the reins from Elton Chigumbura after the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He became the first Zimbabwean batsman to hit back-to-back One-Day International (ODI) centuries (128 not out and 107 not out), achieved against New Zealand in October 2011. He repeated the feat again at the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. He was selected to play Twenty20 cricket for the Wellington cricket team as an overseas player in New Zealand's HRV Twenty20 Cup in December 2011. His 433 runs at the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup set a new record for Zimbabwe in any World Cup. His 11 centuries in ODIs is also a Zimbabwe record surpassing Alistair Campbell's 7.

Taylor quit his national side soon after the 2015 World Cup but on 14 September 2017, he terminated his contract with Nottinghamshire to return home to Zimbabwe. It was announced that Taylor had decided return home and play for Zimbabwe for personal reasons.[6]

In November 2018, Taylor became the first batsman for Zimbabwe to score a century in each innings in a Test on two occasions.[7] In October 2020, in the first ODI against Pakistan, Taylor scored his 17th century in international cricket to become the batsman with the most centuries for Zimbabwe across all three formats.[8] Due to all these achievements, Taylor is often regarded as one of the finest batsman of Zimbabwe in the modern era.[9] In July 2021, during Zimbabwe's home series against Bangladesh, Taylor played in his 200th ODI match.[10] In September 2021, ahead of Zimbabwe's third ODI match against Ireland, Taylor announced that he would retire from international cricket following the match.[11][12]

In January 2022, he made a revelation about his forced involvement into spot-fixing due to the circumstances he had to deal with and stated that he will be facing a lengthy international ban for failing to report details related to it on time.[13] Later the same month, Taylor was banned from all cricket for 3+1⁄2 years by the International Cricket Council (ICC).[14]

  1. ^ "Brendan Taylor: Zimbabwe's second highest run-getter in ODIs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  2. ^ Campbell, Alistair (15 March 2015). "Alistair Campbell: Future of Zimbabwe cricketers lie in their hands". ICC-cricket.com. International Cricket Council. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  3. ^ Brendan Taylor's signature shot, retrieved 26 January 2022
  4. ^ "Blignaut included in squad for Twenty20". ESPNcricinfo. 26 March 2010. Archived from the original on 31 March 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  5. ^ "Zimbabwe Squad". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  6. ^ "Brendan Taylor leaves Nottinghamshire and returns to Zimbabwe". Nottingham Post. 14 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  7. ^ "Taylor ton goes in vain as Mehidy crushes Zimbabwe dreams". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  8. ^ "Shaheen, Wahab fight back to sink Zimbabwe". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  9. ^ "25 Facts about Brendan Taylor - the Finest Zimbabwe Player of Modern Era". 6 February 2016.
  10. ^ "Bangladesh bank on form, momentum ahead of ODIs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  11. ^ "Brendan Taylor to retire from international cricket". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  12. ^ "Taylor to play one last time for Zimbabwe with history on the line". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Brendan Taylor says he faces ICC ban for delay in reporting approach". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  14. ^ "Brendan Taylor banned under ICC Anti-Corruption Code and Anti-Doping Code". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 28 January 2022.