by Akseli Pitkänen As much as I would have wanted, I must say I didn't have the privilege of seeing Brendan Taylor in his younger days. Brendon Taylor is my favorite Zimbabwean batsman. During the 2011 ICC World Cup, every cricket fan was deeply interested. I was a skinny 12-year-old but I also was the only one who could still clear the fence in his age group. I was passionately in love with cricket at that time and when all this was happening, the World Cup had begun. I knew the names of several Zimbabwean cricketers from the top of my head. Following the WC, I started purchasing cricket magazines and followed the game more and more frequently. In addition, I got to read about Zimbabwe's home series against New Zealand, which was held in October 2011. My word, what an amazing tour that was for Brendan Taylor. A bloke, playing from one of the countries that were still looking for a reputation, showed the world glimpses of his talent and averted all the lingering questions about his temperament before this series. Two centuries in the three-match ODI series, a fifty in a T20I, and a Test hundred underlined his quality as a key member of his side. Taylor's prime time in the red and yellow lasted from 2011 to 2015. Signing a Kolpak deal and thus not representing Zimbabwe for three years made many Zimbabwean supporters feel disheartened. 2015 was a wonderful contest but Zimbabwe didn't have much of a winning mentality, which they can only get by playing and winning matches. In 2019 we won't see Zimbabwe in the CWC, which can be thought as a major demonstration of what is to come for the "lower ranked" Test countries given Zimbabwe and Ireland's Test status. I wish Taylor's centuries were like a placement of putting Zimbabwe's batting back in the territory of getting the opportunity to play more Tests. Zimbabwe didn't win with his knocks but I'd say out of the 3 best Zimbabwean batsmen in the tour: Williams, Moor and Taylor, Taylor was the one who cemented his place. Brendan improved as the tour progressed. I guess the cool diesel needs time warming up. In ODIs, Taylor produced priceless support to Sean Williams at a regular constant. Twin scores of 75 justified his spot as number 3. It was for sure that Brendan's efforts with the bat had a positive influence to Sean too as Sean got an unbeaten 129 in the last ODI encounter. 100 partnerships don't come by themselves. The 1st Test didn't yield great returns with the bat for Taylor. In the 1st innings he didn't get any boundaries and in the 2nd innings he wasn't afraid to go all guns blazing but paid the price for overly aggressive batting. All this hesitation was about to be forgotten though into the 2nd Test. After dropping some catches and letting Bangladesh capitalize the run of play for some sessions, Zimbabwe ended in a dissolving position: Chatara out of the game and Zimbabwe trailing by almost 500 in the 1st innings with now 7 wickets remaining, it was Brendan time! Chari and Brendan began their partnership on 2-40 after Tiripano, the nightwatchman, departed. Chari hit seven boundaries, five fours and two sixes, before Taylor hit one when the two were out there in the middle. Chari must have had a rush to get that 50 of his own but Taylor was looking for something more special in his waiting game. It's an indication of what real Test batting requires with no offense to Chari The match livened up after Chari's dismissal. In the process a couple boundaries were hit by Taylor but I'd say the match defining story was just about to begin when PJ Moor walked into the crease with Zimbabwe on 131-5 after 54.5 overs. Trailing still by nearly 400 runs and half the batsmen gone, started what could be called sheer amusement. Moor casually cut the ball to the off side, Taylor brought up his 50, first in a long time in Test match cricket. Moor decided to play the big shots and as a batsman at the other end, once it's safe, you don't mind it at all. And once the 80 over mark had passed, Taylor showed some shots of his own with an on-drive and a classic cover drive. It wasn't the boundaries hit by Taylor necessarily the difference but also strike rotation. As he closed on his century to be on 99* with a boundary, he had hit eight fours and no sixes. Eight fours! 32 off 99 runs had come off boundaries. That's a little amount coming from fours or sixes. The rest came of pure game manipulation, pure skill of making the fielders run and finding those gaps. I wouldn't want to be a fielder always leaking that extra run but Taylor did it in gentleman fashion. No anger, just like he does it in games he enjoys. Cause that extra run can be pivotal, at least when it comes multiplied by dozens of times! There was some tense moments though before the century. You have to always have awareness, or better said calm nerves, on the 90s. This was the case here too. Brendan was in fact dropped on 94 by the wicket keeper Rahim. No wonder he wanted to smack his way out of trouble sooner than later once his partner was gone on the verge of a milestone. You would never want to see your best partner out when you're on 95 let alone being dropped one run before that. He cleared the infield on 95 with an off drive and soon took his score past 100. Take a bow, Taylor! However, the end came rather quickly. On 110 he hit a tired man's shot, bottom edge. But it had to take a sublime catch to dismiss him. Taijul Islam, the catcher off Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Zimbabwe ended all out on 304 with Taylor taking over a third of the runs. The saga was to be continued a couple days later. Bangladesh got their noses in front but they didn't enforce the follow-on. Instead they batted for 50 odd overs with run rate of over four. The declaration was brought into play with a simple equation: Zimbabwe had to bat for four sessions to draw, Bangladesh had to take nine wickets to level the series. Target was an insurmountable 443. This time around the openers made steady progress and got to 68 for zero wickets. However, one wicket brought up another and both openers were back in the pavilion on 70-2. Brendan and Sean yet again had the job of rescuing the side. Stumps were called on day 4 with Zimbabwe adding six more runs to the new partnership dealing 30 overs in the process of the post tea session. Day 5 was one man in the way of a top class bowling unit. It was Taylor vs Bangladesh or rather his perseverance vs a heavy defeat. On day 5, Taylor hit ten boundaries, his team hit him excluding three. Brendan's temperament was gold. On a deadly pitch with balls acting like grenades on the pitch with a rough and soft side, Taylor calmly just hit lovely cover drives. He hit those cracking confident shots once he was in. Some went whipping over the top, some were placed along the ground. The measurement and preciseness of his shots cannot be verbalized! He reverse swept, as if it was a pitch from early in the game. His aggression was restrained but then again it was fiery like Brett Lee's bowling at best. The innings itself was a masterpiece but the way he turned around his fortunes into great results must be staggering. This guy didn't play for Zimbabwe for a long time, he wasn't even near of top scoring for Nottinghamshire. Then when he came back to represent his country he was himself elite and born to be on a Test cricket pitch. Now that doesn't come regularly by practicing or working hard with fitness, that only comes when a person is locked himself to a routine, not a daily one but a routine where figures themselves don't hold against. His sweep shot is a very good shot. It's not as hard as it could be, it's not finding the gap as it should be. However, it's enough for a bowling side to leak four runs on several occasions. He hit them hard, he hit them straight and once he got enough of them, he raised the century. 1st century came off 187 balls, the 2nd one off 164 balls. Brendan Taylor became the first batsman for Zimbabwe to score a century in each innings in a Test on two separate occasions. Brendan Taylor 110 (194) and Brendan Taylor 106* (167) stands at his own. Well done Brendan Ross Murray Taylor! I'm taking my hat off! You made a Test match last. You are a hero and at the end of the Test, you were the unbeaten one, the unbeaten Zimbabwean cricketer whose name will last. Well done, sir! It practically spun all day on the last day. Partnership here, partnership there. But that majestic 100 was at his own class. He was on a little pressure not having scored enough well outside home in Tests. But the way he was stubborn, not once but twice in the same Test, puts his efforts despite a lost Test into the books as Zimbabwe's spin king.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2022
Categories |