Brendan Taylor

Brendan Ross Murray Taylor (born 6 February 1986) is a former Zimbabwean international cricketer, and a former Zimbabwean captain in ODIs until his retirement. Currently Taylor is playing for Nottinghamshire, he is a batsman but is also a part-time wicketkeeper and off spinner. He is regarded as one of the best batsmen in Zimbabwean cricketing history.

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 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.

He played his last game for Zimbabwe on 15 March 2015 against India and ended with a magnificent century. He has signed a three-year Kolpak deal with Nottinghamshire. This deal makes him ineligible to play international cricket for Zimbabwe. His 433 runs at the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup set a new record for Zimbabwe in any World Cup. His 8 centuries in ODI's is also a Zimbabwe record surpassing Alistair Campbell's 7.

Taylor was nurtured by Iain Campbell, the father of Zimbabwean Test cricketer Alistair Campbell, at Lilfordia 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.