Taylor 6000 times more focused
BRENDAN TAYLOR (Pictured) wasn’t too surprised when he received the news that his 18-month-old son had been bitten by a dog while playing at home last Saturday. The top order batsman was forced to abandon a Chevrons intra-team match at Harare Sports Club as he rushed back home to check on his twin son Sam.
“I wasn’t really shocked, I see a lot of myself in him,” said Taylor last week.
“Now he knows he should never play with the dog’s tail. He is fine, he is alright. He just had a minor injury on his finger.”
With his boy in almost perfect shape, Taylor, who is closing on the 6000 ODI runs mark, joined his teammates in preparing for the tours of South Africa and Bangladesh.
BT is just 48 runs away from the milestone that only has the Flower Brothers, Grant (6571) and Andy (6786), as the only Zimbabweans. “Milestones are nice, it’s really something you can be proud of, but for me what’s more important is helping the team win games,” said Taylor, who has Zimbabwe’s most ODIs centuries (10) so far.
Taylor is eager to close the chapter that saw him missing out on the T20 Tri- series featuring Australia and Pakistan in June and the subsequent five match ODI series against Pakistan due to a financial dispute with Zimbabwe Cricket.
“That happened a long time ago and I have moved on, focus is now on playing and performing for my country,” he said. As Zimbabwe leave for South Africa on Wednesday for three ODIs and as many as T20s in a series starting on September 30, Taylor will probably be buoyed by his record across the Limpopo. He scored his highest ODI score to date in South Africa, an unbeaten 145 in Bloemfontein in 2010. “It was nice to get those runs because South Africa is a tough place to play. But history really counts for very little, it’s all about current form, hence I been putting in the hard work. “The other guys have also been working hard in preparation for this upcoming series, it has been a good six weeks of hard work,” said Taylor. The ODI series starts with a match on September 30, with the second and third matches set for October 3 and 6. Three T20s follow on October 9, 12 and 14 before Zimbabwe heads for Bangladesh for a tour of three ODIs in October and two Tests in November. Taylor opened up on how the Chevrons have been preparing for the tours.
“We have been alternating between white ball cricket and red ball cricket since we have Tests in Bangladesh,” he disclosed.
“Like I said, the boys have been practicing hard and there is confidence in the group.” OUTSIDE the confinements of the boundary rope and practicing nets, the Chevrons have been bonding and expressing love.
The national cricket team had a team bonding lunch hosted by 24-year-old batsman Ryan Burl at his Chisipite residence last Tuesday.
“So we meet at my place boys,” said Burl at the conclusion of a net session at Harare Sports Club.
After refreshing and doing some school runs, they all headed to Burl’s place, some still clad in their national warm up kits while others put on their casuals.
There were no speeches, it was drinking and feasting, laughing and joking with Tendai Chisoro and Christopher Mpofu ensuring there was banter going around.
House music, hip hop, pop and some alternative rock played from Solomon Mire’s bluetooth speaker.
Two days after the braai, captain Hamilton Masakadza and his lads donated kit and conducted a coaching clinic at the National Rehabilitation Centre in Ruwa on Thursday.