Wicketkeeper-batsman Brendan Taylor recently announced that he will retire from all formats of the game for the Zimbabwe Cricket team. Since 2004 till date, Taylor has played some marvellous knocks to guide his team to victory.
Here are some of the best knocks of Brendan Taylor in all the 3 formats of the game.
60*(45) vs Australia in Inaugural World T20 clash in Cape Town
T20 was a very new format in cricket and the inaugural T20 World Cup 2007 was the beginning of the era.
On 12th September 2007, Zimbabwe was facing the heavyweights Australia in a Group Stage match. After winning the toss, Australia decided to bat first and could post only 138/9 in their 20 overs.
In a run chase, Brendan Taylor opened the batting for Zimbabwe. He anchored the run chase for his side and helped Zimbabwe script a historic victory against Australia by 5 wickets in the nail-biting encounter.
Taylor scored an unbeaten 60 off just 45 balls with the help of 4 fours and 2 massive sixes.
Even though Zimbabwe couldn’t make it to the knockout stages but this victory against Australia was celebrated for a very long time in world cricket.
Centuries against Bangladesh in Harare Test match
Bangladesh was touring Zimbabwe for two test matches series in 2013. In the 1st test match, Bangladesh won the toss and asked the hosts to bat. Zimbabwe batting order was falling at one end like a house of cards. But then Brendan Taylor showed his test batting skills and batted for 489 minutes. He registered his career-best score of 171 not out and helped Zimbabwe post 389.
In the 2nd innings as well, when Bangladesh was slowly getting back in the game, Taylor played another classy knock of 102 not out with the help of 5 fours and 2 sixes. In the end, Zimbabwe won the test match convincingly by 335 runs. But it was Brendan Taylor’s memorable centuries in both innings which revived Zimbabwe’s performance. The series ended in a 1-1 draw.
138 vs India in 2015 World Cup
Taylor has been the man of big occasions and big tournaments. This time it was against India on 14th March 2015 in Auckland. Indian Captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first.
In a batting-friendly track, Zimbabwe top order was finding it difficult to handle the Indian bowling attack and they were reduced to 126/4 in 28.3 overs. Then Brendan Taylor stitched an important 109 runs partnership with Sean Ervine and later ended up scoring a magnificent 138 off 110 balls with the help of 15 fours and 5 sixes at a strike rate of 125.45. In the end, Zimbabwe cruised to a match-winning total of 287.
In reply, India also started hesitatingly losing 4 wickets for just 92 runs but Raina and Dhoni ensured that India chased down the target without any further hiccups.
The result showed India’s victory but Brendan Taylor’s clinical knock was a big boost for the Zimbabwean team.
Taylor has devoted 17 years of his career to Zimbabwe across all the formats both with the bat and behind the stumps. His contribution has been immense for the Zimbabwean cricket team and it will be tough for Zimbabwe to get another player like him soon.
