Brendan Taylor : The Lone Wolf Of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Cricket have produced a good number of legendary batsmen. Andy Flower is the biggest name of their Cricket history. Andy Flower is the only batsman of Zimbabwe to break down over the top of the batting ranking (by surpassing the legend Sachin Tendulkar in rankings). Andy's brother Grant Flower was also a legend who contributed a lot for his country. Excluding Flower brothers, Zimbabwe have also produced some of their top notch batsmen including Dave Haughton, Stuart Carlisle, Alistair Campbell, Murray Goodwin, Neil Johnson etc. They used to have great times in the past. Their current team have few acceptably well batsmen like Hamilton Masakadza, Craig Ervine and Sean Williams but Brendan Taylor has surpassed all of their leagues drastically. Among all the players of current Zimbabwean team, Brendan Taylor is the only player to be compared with other top level batsmen out there. He is sailing Zimbabwean Cricket's ship like a lonely voyager, representing his nation single handedly. This is Mashhud Hasan from Frenzytitans360 and today I'm going to discuss about Zimbabwe's one man army Brendan Taylor.
Brendan Taylor is an agile batsman and a cunning wicket-keeper from Zimbabwe. He had his first class debut in 2001/2002 and had his list-A debut in 2003. He entered the international Cricket in 2004 against Sri Lanka where he debuted with an ODI match by getting bold away by Chaminda Vaas for no run. At that moment, very few people actually believed that one day, this man is going to be the one man army of Zimbabwe. Taylor showed his class at the 5th ODI of that series. In that match he opened with Stuart Matsikenyeri and built a solid 79 run partnership, Taylor himself scored a blistering innings of 74 runs before throwing his wicket away against Rangana Herath. He scored two consecutive fifties in his next ODI series against Australia. He had an average first five years in One day Internationals. At the span of 2004-2008, he played a total of 74 ODI matches and scored 1929 runs with an average of 28.36 and 12 fifties, which includes three 90+ innings. Some of those match winning fifties were brilliant but he badly needed a big innings to harden his platform at the top order. Finally he got his much awaited century against his most favorite opponent Bangladesh. He scored an unbeaten 118 out of 125 balls to built Zimbabwe's innings. As a wicket-keeper, he also stumped Shakib Al Hasan and Raqibul Hasan in that thrilling match and was a strong competitor for the man of the match award. He didn't have to look back. One year later he scored another century against Sri Lanka to claim a 8 wicket victory. Same year he scored the biggest innings of his ODI career against South Africa. At one of the matches of the bilateral series in 2010, South Africa threw a massive target of 351 runs against Zimbabwe. Eventually they've won the match but it was Brendan Taylor who drew all the attentions and spotlights over himself. In that innings, he opened his number sheet with a perfect Cover-drive over Wayne Parnell's full tracker. Played many Square-cuts and Leg-glances over Langeveldt. A well-timed Upper-cut against Juan Theron's length ball over the keeper was picture perfect. Zimbabwe lost that match by a big margin of 64 runs but Brendan Taylor ended up scoring 145* and becoming the 9th batsman in Cricket history to bat through the whole innings. Next year in 2011, he had his 2nd ICC World-cup which he didn't perform like the way everybody desired. But he finished that year by scoring 3 centuries. One of them was against Bangladesh. He scored two consecutive centuries against New Zealand. In 2015 World-cup, he scored two consecutive centuries against Ireland and India and after finishing the World-cup, he left Zimbabwe team for 3 years. After coming back to the international cricket in 2018 for the World-cup qualifiers, he scored another two centuries against Afghanistan and West Indies which went in vain due to Zimbabwe not qualifying for the next World-cup event. Currently he's the 3rd highest run scorer for Zimbabwe in their ODI cricket history with 5942 runs out of 181 innings at an average of 35.79 (this includes 10 centuries and 34 fifties).
In Test Cricket, he had some hard and struggling times to adapt himself into the longest format of Cricket but he actually ended up becoming one of Zimbabwe's finest Test batsmen.He had his Test debut at the same year when he had his ODI debut. In that 2 match Test series against Sri Lanka, he didn't really have a smooth start but scored a fifty in the 2nd innings of 2nd Test. He had his maiden Test century against Bangladesh in 2011. Following that year, he scored another Test century against New Zealand. In 2013, he scored a pair of centuries against Bangladesh at the Harare Test to claim a mammoth 335 runs victory for Zimbabwe. In that same test match, he had his biggest innings of 171 runs out of 324 balls in the 1st innings. He ended up his Test career by scoring 1594 runs in 26 Test matches (52 innings) with an average of 32.53 that includes 4 centuries and 8 fifties. 3 of his 4 Test centuries were scored against Bangladesh.
Due to having a hard hitting ability and calculative shot selections, Brendan Taylor draws attention in the auctions. He scored his only T20 century against Otago Volts by playing for Wellington Fire-birds in the HRV Cup. His list of major teams (among the franchise T20 leagues) includes Chittagong Kings (BPL), Sunrisers Hyderabad (IPL), Nottinghamshire (English County), Mashonaland Eagles (Stanbic Bank 20 Series) etc. His T20I career contains 612 runs in 28 innings at an average of 26.60 and 5 fifties.
When he entered the national team, Zimbabwe passed it's prime way back in 20th century. He has the agility to step over with the bat alone. His shot selection, timing, foot-work and shot placements are really good. Due to having fluidity and flexibility, he is able of executing any shots from any positions. While most of the Zimbabwean batsmen crumble to bat at the Asian turf, Brendan Taylor is very comfortable over the Asian turf and his calculative batting against the spinners are always delightful to watch. But the sad part his, there are very few quality batsmen that can actually give him good support from the other side of the pitch. Masakadza often builds good partnership with Taylor but his lack of consistency has always been his biggest enemy. There were many occasions where Brendan Taylor scored any runs but failed to lead Zimbabwe towards victory, mainly because of not getting the support from the other side of the wicket. Maybe that's the reason Taylor has retired from international Cricket after the 2015 World-cup. He scored a century against India in his last ODI match before leaving Zimbabwe for 3 years. At the press conference, he has mentioned his integrity and respect for Zimbabwean Cricket and said that playing for Zimbabwe had always been the pinnacle of his career. After finishing the Kolpak contract with Nottinghamshire, he returned to international Cricket at 2018. Since his return, he scored 684 runs out of 15 innings with an average of 45.6 (which includes 2 centuries and 2 fifties). He fought back and forth but still failed to qualify Zimbabwe for the World-cup 2019. His frustration of having a frail team is indeed a valid reason of him leaving the international Cricket. He still bounced back, played some wonderful innings and tried his best from the position where he is at. His consistency and the ability to adapt with the situation is what made him unique from his teammates. He might retire, or he might keep up playing with his team. But whatever he does, he'll always be remembered as the lone wolf of Zimbabwe, a guy who survives alone.
 |
| Taylor's celebration during his 138(110) vs India |
Brendan Taylor is an agile batsman and a cunning wicket-keeper from Zimbabwe. He had his first class debut in 2001/2002 and had his list-A debut in 2003. He entered the international Cricket in 2004 against Sri Lanka where he debuted with an ODI match by getting bold away by Chaminda Vaas for no run. At that moment, very few people actually believed that one day, this man is going to be the one man army of Zimbabwe. Taylor showed his class at the 5th ODI of that series. In that match he opened with Stuart Matsikenyeri and built a solid 79 run partnership, Taylor himself scored a blistering innings of 74 runs before throwing his wicket away against Rangana Herath. He scored two consecutive fifties in his next ODI series against Australia. He had an average first five years in One day Internationals. At the span of 2004-2008, he played a total of 74 ODI matches and scored 1929 runs with an average of 28.36 and 12 fifties, which includes three 90+ innings. Some of those match winning fifties were brilliant but he badly needed a big innings to harden his platform at the top order. Finally he got his much awaited century against his most favorite opponent Bangladesh. He scored an unbeaten 118 out of 125 balls to built Zimbabwe's innings. As a wicket-keeper, he also stumped Shakib Al Hasan and Raqibul Hasan in that thrilling match and was a strong competitor for the man of the match award. He didn't have to look back. One year later he scored another century against Sri Lanka to claim a 8 wicket victory. Same year he scored the biggest innings of his ODI career against South Africa. At one of the matches of the bilateral series in 2010, South Africa threw a massive target of 351 runs against Zimbabwe. Eventually they've won the match but it was Brendan Taylor who drew all the attentions and spotlights over himself. In that innings, he opened his number sheet with a perfect Cover-drive over Wayne Parnell's full tracker. Played many Square-cuts and Leg-glances over Langeveldt. A well-timed Upper-cut against Juan Theron's length ball over the keeper was picture perfect. Zimbabwe lost that match by a big margin of 64 runs but Brendan Taylor ended up scoring 145* and becoming the 9th batsman in Cricket history to bat through the whole innings. Next year in 2011, he had his 2nd ICC World-cup which he didn't perform like the way everybody desired. But he finished that year by scoring 3 centuries. One of them was against Bangladesh. He scored two consecutive centuries against New Zealand. In 2015 World-cup, he scored two consecutive centuries against Ireland and India and after finishing the World-cup, he left Zimbabwe team for 3 years. After coming back to the international cricket in 2018 for the World-cup qualifiers, he scored another two centuries against Afghanistan and West Indies which went in vain due to Zimbabwe not qualifying for the next World-cup event. Currently he's the 3rd highest run scorer for Zimbabwe in their ODI cricket history with 5942 runs out of 181 innings at an average of 35.79 (this includes 10 centuries and 34 fifties).
 |
| A Slog sweep during his 121(91) against Ireland in 2015 WC |
In Test Cricket, he had some hard and struggling times to adapt himself into the longest format of Cricket but he actually ended up becoming one of Zimbabwe's finest Test batsmen.He had his Test debut at the same year when he had his ODI debut. In that 2 match Test series against Sri Lanka, he didn't really have a smooth start but scored a fifty in the 2nd innings of 2nd Test. He had his maiden Test century against Bangladesh in 2011. Following that year, he scored another Test century against New Zealand. In 2013, he scored a pair of centuries against Bangladesh at the Harare Test to claim a mammoth 335 runs victory for Zimbabwe. In that same test match, he had his biggest innings of 171 runs out of 324 balls in the 1st innings. He ended up his Test career by scoring 1594 runs in 26 Test matches (52 innings) with an average of 32.53 that includes 4 centuries and 8 fifties. 3 of his 4 Test centuries were scored against Bangladesh.
Due to having a hard hitting ability and calculative shot selections, Brendan Taylor draws attention in the auctions. He scored his only T20 century against Otago Volts by playing for Wellington Fire-birds in the HRV Cup. His list of major teams (among the franchise T20 leagues) includes Chittagong Kings (BPL), Sunrisers Hyderabad (IPL), Nottinghamshire (English County), Mashonaland Eagles (Stanbic Bank 20 Series) etc. His T20I career contains 612 runs in 28 innings at an average of 26.60 and 5 fifties.
When he entered the national team, Zimbabwe passed it's prime way back in 20th century. He has the agility to step over with the bat alone. His shot selection, timing, foot-work and shot placements are really good. Due to having fluidity and flexibility, he is able of executing any shots from any positions. While most of the Zimbabwean batsmen crumble to bat at the Asian turf, Brendan Taylor is very comfortable over the Asian turf and his calculative batting against the spinners are always delightful to watch. But the sad part his, there are very few quality batsmen that can actually give him good support from the other side of the pitch. Masakadza often builds good partnership with Taylor but his lack of consistency has always been his biggest enemy. There were many occasions where Brendan Taylor scored any runs but failed to lead Zimbabwe towards victory, mainly because of not getting the support from the other side of the wicket. Maybe that's the reason Taylor has retired from international Cricket after the 2015 World-cup. He scored a century against India in his last ODI match before leaving Zimbabwe for 3 years. At the press conference, he has mentioned his integrity and respect for Zimbabwean Cricket and said that playing for Zimbabwe had always been the pinnacle of his career. After finishing the Kolpak contract with Nottinghamshire, he returned to international Cricket at 2018. Since his return, he scored 684 runs out of 15 innings with an average of 45.6 (which includes 2 centuries and 2 fifties). He fought back and forth but still failed to qualify Zimbabwe for the World-cup 2019. His frustration of having a frail team is indeed a valid reason of him leaving the international Cricket. He still bounced back, played some wonderful innings and tried his best from the position where he is at. His consistency and the ability to adapt with the situation is what made him unique from his teammates. He might retire, or he might keep up playing with his team. But whatever he does, he'll always be remembered as the lone wolf of Zimbabwe, a guy who survives alone.
No comments