Zimbabwe's Brendan Taylor in line for possible international return

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Taylor celebrates his century against India in the 2015 World Cup

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What’s the story?

The days have started to look brighter for Zimbabwe cricket. A week after their historic series win against Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe’s resurgence could be further enhanced by the possible return of Brendan Taylor and Kyle Jarvis, if talks between them and the board take a fruitful path.

In case you didn’t know…

Both Taylor and Jarvis, who now play county cricket for Nottinghamshire and Lancashire respectively, left the national side, fed up with the shabby administration. Things have looked better though ever since Tavengwa Mukuhlani became Zimbabwe Cricket’s chairman. Under his tenure, a possible return for Taylor from English county cricket would be a huge catch.

One of the most talented batsmen to have emerged from the Zimbabwean ranks, Taylor hit back to back centuries in the 2011 and 2015 World Cups, the latter being his last international assignment. 

The heart of the matter

Things are expected to change with the visit of ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar next month, who will visit the country to review the host’s arrangements for the ICC World Cup 2019 Qualifiers. 

Former captains Heath Streak and Tatenda Taibu have returned to the administrative fold, while the new Managing Director has also shown some positive changes, as revealed by Sikandar Raza to Sportskeeda.

However, Zimbabwe might not be able to afford to bring back both the players, with the board’s pockets not being deep enough, at least for the time being. Sean Ervine is also on the board’s radar, but no formal talks between the two parties have taken place as of now.

What’s next?

If the board is willing to make an exception to change its single-contract rule and allow multi-contracts, they might entice at least one of Taylor or Jarvis to be fast-tracked into the national side, even as early as the upcoming Test series against the West Indies.

Author’s take

Riddled with problems for most of the last decade, Zimbabwe cricket has shown great signs of improvement, both on the administrative as well as cricketing fronts. The recent series win gave the players a huge confidence boost, erasing the ignominy of huge defeats in the past few years.

The return of someone like Taylor, who has shown his brilliance against the best international attacks, would be welcome, and at 31, he could still play a huge role for the side in the coming few years.

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