As of APRIL 24, 2007 Source: Cricinfo.com
Brendan Ross Murray Taylor (born February 6, 1986 in Harare) is a Zimbabwean cricketer. His ODI shirt number is 1.
Brendan Taylor made his debut for Zimbabwe at a time when many of the country's leading players rebelled against Zimbabwe Cricket (formally known as the Zimbabwean Cricket Union) and made themselves unavailable to represent the side. Many young players were prematurely brought into the team, therefore weakening the side, especially at Test level.
He is a good all-round player, who has in the past been successful bowling off-break deliveries. But his bowling has been put on hold, as without Tatenda Taibu, he is the country's first choice wicket keeper. To date, he has 31 catches and 9 stumpings in the ODI arena.
Despite his young age, Taylor is among the most experienced players in the current Zimbabwean team, and is considered the team's best batsman with 10 ODI half-centuries to his name, and a top ODI score of 98.
In the Test arena, Taylor's performances have been somewhat below what one would expect of a player at Test level. However, this can be attributed to his young age and premature elevation to the national team. When Zimbabwe return to Test cricket in late 2007, Taylor will be an important part of the Zimbabwe batting lineup, and it is likely he will be able to improve on his past Test performances.
To date, Zimbabwe have only played two Twenty20 matches (one of which was a Twenty20 International) The first was vs Eagles, Sept 2006 and the second was vs Bangladesh, Dec 2006 ).
Taylor made 25 runs at better than a run a ball against the Eagles, showing just how versatile he can be, and how he can adapt to the different forms of cricket. In his maiden Twenty20 International however, he scored just 5 runs, before being bowled by Mashrafe Mortaza.
Taylor's most important innings to date was without doubt in the 3rd ODI of the Bangladesh tour of Zimbabwe (2006). A close game throughout, Zimbabwe required 5 runs from the final ball, effectively meaning a 6 needed to be hit to win the game. Taylor successfully hit 6 off the bowling of Mashrafe Mortaza on the last ball, giving Zimbabwe the victory, and contributing to their series win.
After a relatively unsuccessful series at home against Bangladesh in February 2007, in which there were some concerns over his commitment to the team, he was still selected for the 15 man squad to tour to the West Indies for the World Cup. With 60 ODI's under his belt, he is still the teams most experienced player.
He also played in the Liverpool and District ECB premier league as overseas professional for Sefton Park CC in 2006. Although not available consistently due to his international commitments he proved successful on the pitch and contributed greatly socially.
1 Utseya (Captain) • 2 Brent • 3 Chibhabha • 4 Chigumbura • 5 Dabengwa • 6 Duffin • 7 Ireland • 8 Kasteni • 9 Matsikenyeri • 10 Mpofu • 11 Mupariwa • 12 Rainsford • 13 Sibanda • 14 Taylor (Wk) • 15 Williams • Coach: Curran