Brendan Ross Murray Taylor (born 6 February 1986) is a Zimbabwean international cricketer and a former Zimbabwean captain, who plays all formats of the game. 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". 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. 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. 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 team 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 to return home and play for Zimbabwe for personal reasons.
In November 2018, Taylor became the first batsman for Zimbabwe to score a century in each innings in a Test on two occasions. 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. Due to all these achievements, Taylor is often regarded as one of the finest batsman of Zimbabwe in the modern era. In July 2021, during Zimbabwe's home series against Bangladesh, Taylor played in his 200th ODI match. In September 2021, ahead of Zimbabwe's third ODI match against Ireland, Taylor announced that he would retire from international cricket following the match.
In January 2022, he made a revelation about his forced involvement in 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. Later the same month, Taylor was banned from all cricket for years by the International Cricket Council (ICC). In August 2025 he returned to the Zimbabwean Test team.
International career
Early years Taylor was nurtured by Iain Campbell, the father of Zimbabwean Test cricketer Alistair Campbell, at Lilfordia School near Harare. During his teens, where he attended St. John's College, Taylor emerged as a regular choice for national age-group teams and played in two Under-19 World Cups. He made his first-class debut for Mashonaland A at the age of 15. The very next year, he shot to prominence by scoring 200 not out in the B Division of the Logan Cup. Strong domestic performances and a mass exodus of top-level players forced Taylor into the national team at the age of 18 against Sri Lanka in 2003–04. He made his ODI and international debut against Sri Lanka on 20 April 2004 at Bulawayo ad opened the batting alongside Vusi Sibanda but had a tough start to his international career after being clean bowled by Chaminda Vaas for duck on his debut. He made his test debut a month later on 6 May 2004 against Sri Lanka in a losing cause.
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 team. Consequently, to fill the gap, many young players were prematurely brought into the team, which weakened the team, especially at Test level. Taylor was one of the youngest and most promising in this lot. In 2006, despite not having signed a new contract, he was selected in the national team. Soon, he took over the wicketkeeping responsibilities as well following the temporary departure of Tatenda Taibu. He shot to international prominence after his 60 not out helped Zimbabwe achieve a five-wicket upset over Australia in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20.
In July–August 2007, Taylor was re-selected for the Zimbabwe Select team against South Africa A, having not been available against India A. He scored just 15 runs (2 and 13) in the second first-class match, having been overlooked for the first game. With Tatenda Taibu back in the team, Taylor was no longer needed behind the stumps. In the ODI series against the full South Africa team, the entire Zimbabwe squad performed above themselves (including their highest ODI score against South Africa), but falling short on all 3 occasions. Taylor too had a good series, ending as the 5th highest run-scorer, with 105 runs at 35.00. Taylor's first Twenty20 outing was against Eagles in September 2006 and the second was versus Bangladesh in December 2006.
Defeating Bangladesh, 2006 In the third ODI of the Bangladesh tour of Zimbabwe (2006), Taylor played a crucial role in a Zimbabwe win. A close game throughout, Zimbabwe required five runs from the final ball, effectively meaning a six needed to be hit to win the game. Taylor successfully hit a six off the bowling of Mashrafe Mortaza on the last ball, giving Zimbabwe the victory, and contributing to their series win. Taylor remained undefeated on 79 off just 72 balls and also awarded the man of the match for his match winning efforts with the bat.
The ICC World Cup 2007 campaign 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 over 60 ODIs under his belt, he is the team's most experienced player.
After a decent World Cup campaign, including 87 runs from 3 matches at an average of 29.00 (including a half-century; 50), Taylor went to play club cricket in the Netherlands, despite a ruling by the Zimbabwe Cricket board that any player leaving the country to play club cricket would be overlooked for selection.
Defeating Australia, 2007 Into the action early, Taylor caught Matthew Hayden off then bowling of Chigumbura. Taylor was also involved in a first class stumping, which saw Andrew Symonds depart. Taylor also made a crucial run out, with only one stump to aim at, to dismiss Mitchell Johnson.
With Zimbabwe restricting Australia to just 138, by Twenty20 standards a poor score, Taylor also opened their innings. While Vusi Sibanda got the ball rolling with several quick boundaries, Taylor was the key man, and batted out the innings. With both teams reasonably even placed for the first dozen overs, it was when Brad Hodge came on to bowl his gentle offspin in the 15th over that Taylor turned the match in Zimbabwe's favour. 15 was scored from the over, including two massive sixes by Taylor, the longest of which went 77 metres. With 12 runs required from the final over, Taylor played a cheeky sweep which ended being 4 from the first ball. Followed by a single, a two and another single, Zimbabwe needed 4 runs from 2 balls with Taylor facing, Chigumbura at the non-strikers end. With a ball to spare, 4 leg-byes were scored, with the ball running down to fine leg. Taylor ended with 60 not out from 45 deliveries. His fine all round performance with the bat and gloves won him the man of the match award.
In June 2008, Taylor joined the Lashings World XI based in England. This was seen as somewhat controversial due to reports of tension between Taylor and Zimbabwe Cricket Board, as a result of the board's policy of denying players to play abroad.BRMTaylor – Brendan Taylor signed by Lashings
Against South Africa, 2010 and thereafter Brendan Taylor scored 145 not out against the South African cricket team he carried his bat throughout the ODI innings and became only the ninth person to do so. South Africa scored 351/6 and Taylor scored 145 of 136 deliveries as Zimbabwe managed 287/6, yet again performing well with the bat but poorly with the ball. That knock proved something of a turning point for him, and he struck another century in the same year against Sri Lanka and proved Zimbabwe's stand-out batsman at the 2011 World Cup, with his upper-cut to third man being described by ESPNcricinfo writer Osman Samiuddin as "one of the lasting images of Group A".
2011 World Cup campaign He was also part of the squad for the 2011 Cricket World Cup where he ended up being the third highest runscorer for Zimbabwe with 170 runs in six matches. He was known for his counter-attacking knock opening the batting in a match against hosts Sri Lanka during the World Cup where he top scored for Zimbabwe with 80 off just 72 balls and added a crucial 116 run partnership for the opening wicket alongside Regis Chakabva. The 116 run stand also remains the highest opening partnership by a pair for Zimbabwe in a World Cup match. Despite the duo's valiant effort with the bat, Zimbabwe crumbled to 188 in a run chase requiring 328.
Return to Test cricket, 2011 Following poor performances in the 2011 Cricket World Cup, Taylor was appointed captain of Zimbabwe on 24 June 2011, taking over from Chigumbura. He captained the team on their return to Test cricket, against Bangladesh, at the Harare Sports Club on 4 August 2011. In the first innings of the match he scored 71 and during the second innings he scored 105* and he then became the second Zimbabwean after David Houghton to score a century in his first match as captain, Zimbabwe sealed a 130 run victory and Brendan Taylor was named man of the match for his century.
New Zealand Series, 2011 In the ODI series of New Zealand's tour to Zimbabwe, Taylor unleashed his best form to date. In the 1st ODI, he scored 128* rescuing Zimbabwe from a precarious position to a respectable 231. In the next match, he scored another century (107*) leading the charge from the front again and in the process, becoming the first ever Zimbabwean batsman to score back-to-back ODI tons.Guptill ton lifts NZ to ODI win over Zim Yahoo! Retrieved 2 December 2011 However, he did not receive any support from the other batsmen and despite his tons, Zimbabwe lost both the games. In the final ODI, chasing a sizable 329 to win, Taylor set the tone of the chase with a brisk 75 off 65 balls, which enabled Malcolm Waller and Elton Chigumbura to give Zimbabwe a famous win. With 310 runs in the series at an average of 310.00 and a strike rate of over 100, Taylor was adjudged the Man of the Series. His 310 runs was at the time the record number of runs in a three-match ODI series. He scored 50 and 117 in the one-off test match. By the process, Taylor became only the second Zimbabwean batsman after Kevin Arnott to score a century in the fourth innings of a Test match, and contained 5 huge sixes. Despite his half-century and his second Test cricket ton, New Zealand outlasted him to win a thrilling match. Despite that, Taylor said that his team will continue to play aggressive, attacking test cricket which drew widespread praise from all quarters. In 2011, as a result of his fine performances, he was named the cricketer of the year and the batsman of the year."Brendan Taylor Named CBZ Bank Cricketer Of the Year" Zimbabwe Cricket Official Website. Retrieved 1 December 2011