Brendan Taylor (born 6 February 1986) is a Zimbabwean cricketer, who is mainly a batsman but occasionally keeps wicket or bowls off-spin.
Background
Taylor was groomed by Iain Campbell, the father of Zimbabwean Test cricketer Alistair Campbell, at the Lilfordia primary school near Harare. During his teens, 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.
Career
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. Consequently, to fill the gap, many young players were prematurely brought into the team, which weakened the side, 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 vs Eagles, Sept 2006 and the second was versus Bangladesh, Dec 2006.
Taylor has been playing in Zimbabwe's domestic first-class competition, the Logan Cup, since 2001–02. His domestic one-day debut came for Mashonaland in 2003–04.
In the domestic circuit he is one of the most reliable and successful batsman, and in 68 first-class matches, he already has 4,719 with a highest score of 217 and a batting average of 39.99. In List A cricket, he has played 184 matches, scoring 5,528 runs, with a personal best of 145*. His average in those matches are 33.30. In Twenty20 cricket, he has 1,307 in 47 matches at an average of 33.51.
Brendan Taylor was one of the star players in the 2007–08 Metropolitan Bank Twenty20. Taylor missed out on that elusive Twenty20 century by 15 runs when he scored 85 not out against Southerns in the second match of the tournament. Batting first, Taylor opened the batting and guided the Northerns to 3/227 after 20 overs, before going on to record a massive 158 run win. He also scored a second half century, 63 not out, against Centrals, a match Northerns won by 9 wickets with 6 balls to spare. Taylor was the second highest run scorer of the tournament, smashing 168 runs at an average of 84.00.
He scored 95 in his only appearance for Northerns, in the 2008–09 Logan Cup. His team won the match by a massive innings and 290 runs.
In the 2011–12 Stanbic Bank 20 Series, Taylor overcame a blistering ton by Chris Gayle to lead his team Mid West Rhinos to victory. The 171-run massive chase turned out to be a seven-wicket win with three balls to spare, mostly due to Taylor's match-winning knock of 75 in which he shared stands of 56 with the New Zealander Lou Vincent, and then a match-changing 105 for the third wicket with Gary Ballance, who made a quickfire 67 off 34 balls, including for sixes. It was the Rhinos' first win of the tournament.
Taylor was given a contract to represent Wellington as an overseas player in New Zealand's HRV Twenty20 Cup in December 2011. He made his debut for Auckland in the 2011–12 HRV Twenty20 Cup game against Wellington.
Wellington went on to finish bottom of the ladder, with just two wins from 10 games, but Taylor was the side's highest scorer with 207 runs, and the eleventh best overall.
In 2013, Taylor was signed by the Chittagong Kings for $30,000. The King's got off to a poor start, however Taylor was one of the highest scorers in the league during this stretch. After the first 5 games, Mahmudullah resigned as the King's captain and Taylor was charged with the captain's duty. With his experience from leading the Zimbabwe Nation side and Uthura Rudras(Sri Lankan Premier League), Taylor lead King's on a 4 game win streak. While on the hot streak, Taylor was the team's leading scorer and 3rd in the league with 316 total runs. He also holds the record for the most runs in King's franchise with 351 runs in 11 matches at an average of 39.00.