From drugs addiction, rehab to international cricket: How Brendan Taylor came back to Zimbabwe cricket team

Nearly four years after he abruptly announced his retirement from international cricket and three-and-a-half-years after he was banned by ICC's anti-corruption unit for failing to report on an approach without delay, veteran wicketkeeper-batter Brendan Taylor is set to make his comeback for the Zimbabwe cricket team.

The former Zimbabwe captain, who had last represented the Chevrons during the ODI series in Ireland in September 2021, made his long-awaited return during the second Test against New Zealand that got underway in Bulawayo on Thursday.

His ban had concluded on 31 July, on the second day of the first Test, which was also hosted at Bulawayo’s Queens Sports Club. That meant Taylor was available for selection for the second and final Test, which will conclude New Zealand’s tour of Zimbabwe.

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Taylor is one of Zimbabwe’s greatest cricketers with nearly 10,000 international runs to his name in addition to 214 dismissals behind the stumps across formats. And despite his age – the keeper-batter touching 40 at the moment – a player of Taylor’s stature would not have found it too difficult to make his way back into the playing XI.

That indeed turned out to be the case on Thursday, with Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine confirming two changes – one of them being Taylor replacing Ben Curran in the XI.

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Taylor’s lowest point and his journey back into the Zimbabwe team

Taylor, who captained Zimbabwe between 2011 and 2015 and later in 2021 shortly before his retirement, had been banned for failing to report a corrupt approach immediately. A group of businessmen had offered the keeper-batter cocaine during a meeting in India in 2019, and threatened to blackmail him for the same unless he agreed to fix matches after revealing they had videotaped him consuming the banned substance.

Taylor, who insists he did not indulge in corrupt activities despite pressure, had also been dealing with a cocaine and alcohol addiction around the same time, the latter resulting in a failed drug test that was noted by the Dubai-based global governing body.

According to ESPNCricinfo, he had checked himself into a rehabilitation for a period of 90 days near Harare shortly before the ICC officially banned him from all cricketing activities for three-and-a-half years.

Once out of the rehab, Taylor took up coaching children for some time and was considering a full-time career as a coach. Zimbabwe Cricket Managing Director Givemore Makoni, however, urged him to shelve those plans for now and persuaded him to come out of international retirement once his ICC ban was lifted.

Zimbabwe, after all, are co-hosting the 2027 ICC ODI World Cup with South Africa and and Namibia and would have been eager to have their greatest wicketkeeper-batter since the legendary Andy Flower as a guiding force within the team.

With the World Cup still a couple of years away, Taylor will be focusing on helping the hosts pull off an improbable series-leveling victory over New Zealand, who had won the first Test by nine wickets.