A former Nottinghamshire batsman handed a suspension for a match-fixing plot was let down by his national association, a prominent Zimbabwean lawyer and cricket fan has claimed.
Brendan Taylor, 35, played for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club between 2015 and 2017.
But last week he was banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for three years for a corruption breach and an anti-doping violation over cocaine metabolites found in his system.
Now a Zimbabwean lawyer who works with the country’s Nehanda Radio, claims Taylor – who captained his national side – was let down by his cricket board before he got mixed up in a match-fixing scandal.
In a statement released before his ban, the one-time Notts batsman claimed he had not been paid his national team salary for six months.
Tinomudaishe Chinyoka, who is also a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, claimed that a statement released about the ban by the Zimbabwean Cricket Committee (ZC), was very ‘disappointing’.
He said: “The statement fails to appreciate the issues of player welfare, vulnerability and safety.
“The situations that Brendan Taylor is in cannot be divorced from the policies and actions of the ZC, whose policies have led to the impoverishment of players.”
Mr. Chinyoka, who lives in Harare in Zimbabwe, believes that the limitations of the Zimbabwe Cricket Committee are just as at fault in this situation as Brendan Taylor.
In response to the suspension, Taylor claimed he was blackmailed, with a video of him taking cocaine used in making him accept a bribe.
He admitted that he took a bribe of £11,200, but never went through with match fixing.
Mr. Chinyoka added: “The fact that a player of Brendan Taylor’s stature would think it would be worthwhile to be paid a mere £11,200 for several days’ appearances in India shows that Zimbabwean cricketers’ pay is very low.
“Without excusing Brendan Taylor’s part in the whole affair, the ZC ought to have considered the ICC ruling as an indictment against its own policies, instead of running to point the finger of blame.”
The lawyer, who has followed Zimbabwean cricket since 1995, acknowledged in his article that although he had never met Taylor, he and many other Zimbabweans are proud of his contribution to their national cricket team.
He added: “The ZC should look into training their players in identifying potential signs of falling prey to similar international criminal syndicates.”
Taylor will be allowed to return to cricket in July 2025.
Read the Zimbabwe Cricket statement in full here.
