So how do we rank Taylor ??

[ZIMDOGGY]

Ok so we are clear I'm talking about brendan Taylor,not Ross.

Anyway it's become apparent that with the bat we are a one man team. Scary but true.
All our successful games are directly linked to Brendans success

If Brendan fails, Zimbabwe will fail. Thats the truth.

Now my question is, where does Brendan rank in the list of Zimbabwean batsman of all time?
Ok he's not flower...but could he be our 2nd?
For me houghtons still the man with the silver medal, but does Murray still hold the bronze?

Pros:
Has all the shots
Genuine matchwinner
First zimbok to score back to back tons
Comes In at pressure situations and blitzes attacks

Cons:
Bad footwork
And as the great cricket analyst Katy perry once sung of brendo
"he's hot and he's cold he's yes then he's no. he's in and he's out"
The guy either scores a gazillion runs or he's out straight away playing a horrible shot

Does anyone still doubt he's not in our best 6 bats all time at least?




Comes in at pressure situations and blitzes attacks

[ZIMDOGGY]

Also that last lines a copy paste stray... I can't work out how up edit it on the iphone

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Yeah, it's an interesting question and there's no doubt that these last two innings should increase his standing in international cricket. Even though Taylor has been Zimbabwe's premier batsman for quite a few years now I have a feeling teams tend to focus on Taibu more due to his reputation as a good Test player around 2004-05.

I think I read in Glenn McGrath's World Cup diary from 2003 (good read, it covers the black armband stuff and how the Aussie team viewed security in Zimbabwe at the time) that in their pre-match meeting they pretty much thought "if we beat Andy Flower, we beat Zimbabwe". Would opposition teams now be saying that about Brendan Taylor?

Test statistics tend to dictate how players are ranked; and fair enough, being the ultimate form of the game it is the ultimate test of any cricketer. So I think how Taylor fares in Test cricket will be the determining factor as to whether he ranks higher, lower or alongside the likes of Flower, Houghton, Goodwin, etc.

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

He is a very good player but he was not in my all time best XI. But that was past, with these two back to back unbeaten hundreds and more importantly scoring theses while captaining, he has certainly earned many brawny points. He is surely moving towards the hall of fame and infact his run appetite with captaincy is the only positive point in the gloom of loosing consecutive 12 matches.

He was positive in come back test,made bold declaration, and showed new found attitude. If that evaporated quickly, it's not his fault rather blame it to our butter fingers. We cant win a T20 with such fielders so forget about ODI or test win. Full marks to Brendan amidst this mayhem

[FlowerPower]

For me he's up there with the Flowers, and Campbell and is almost sure to surpass them.

[eugene]

The only players ahead of Taylor are probably Andy Flower, Dave Houghton, and Murray Goodwin.

[hhm]

As a direct answer to your question Zimdoggy, I would say it's hard to say. BRM just about sums it up very well.

With time we may well be able to place him in the top 6 with absolute certainty because if he progresses at this rate, that's sure to be the case. However, while at the top of our heads right now we would rate Taylor ahead of Guy in terms of batsmen, it's worth remembering that Guy tamed better NZ attacks, under far better captaincy, with relative ease quite a few times at Test level. The truth is while they may be better technology, fitness, fielding, bats etc, the standard of bowlers(&batsmen) now is pathetic. Most players averaging 45 hence forth are worth a 35avg 10 yrs ago. It's hard to make a comparison because of regressing standards. For example, Taufeeq Umar just got a double hundred against SL, but I can tell you now that it ranks lower than the double hundred Attapatu got against lowly us 10 odd years ago(not sure how far back). Around 2014 we'll have played SA, SL, Aus & Ind. I'd reserve judgement until then. For the good of our cricket I certainly hope Taylor becomes a greater player than our past top players were (as should Moor etc), because that'll mean Zim would be competitive.

[Kriterion_BD]

two unbeaten hundreds?? wow this guy must be eating his wheaties!

[Jemisi]

I am not sure where he sits either, but the only player I am sure is better than him is AFlower.

I think that his Test form will be key as well, though he does now have 7 hundreds for Zim only bettered by the Flowers and Campbell.

I think if Houghton had been givena proper length of career then he'd maybe still be ahead of Taylor, Goodwin too. I think that he will surpass those guys as long as there is no disaster of any kind.

[Zimfanatic69]

The only players ahead of Taylor are probably Andy Flower, Dave Houghton, and Murray Goodwin.

Kevin Arnott and Andy Pycroft, certainly. Had test cricket come 10 years sooner they would have had very good careers.