Taylor: The return of the Messiah

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jaybro
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Taylor: The return of the Messiah

Post by jaybro »

Looks like the Zimbabwe Independent has been reading our forum and stole my headline :lol:

At least they were humble enough to admit as much
I CAME across the above headline from a Zimbabwean cricket supporters internet forum and unashamedly stole it.

Well, sort of.

An excited fan on the forum last week posted an article from a British publication announcing Brendan Taylor’s eagerly-awaited return to Zimbabwe.

Accompanying the post was the caption: “The Messiah Returns.”

This is indeed what Taylor means to the cricket fans of this country and those three words pretty much summed up the full measure of his worth: a hero and a returning saviour. Never had a Zimbabwe batsman of the post-Test cricket era so single-handedly carried the team on his shoulders since the days of the great Dave Houghton and Andy Flower.

A firm favourite among a cross section of cricket fans here, Taylor — before his shock international retirement to sign for County side Nottinghamshire in 2015 — had emerged to become a truly modern-day Zimbabwean sporting hero, a recognised and revered figure.

After Tatenda Taibu charmed the nation some few years back, Taylor had become the country’s next best-loved cricket captain, poster-boy of the team, and he responded to that adoration with quiet dignity, humility and sense of responsibility to his beloved country. A man who wears his heart on the sleeve, Taylor’s thoughts and best wishes were always with his countrymen back home during his international hiatus, especially a Zimbabwe team deprived of its natural leader and kingpin.

That great affinity and bond was never more evident than early this year when the Zimbabwe team came under severe social media attack from the country’s former internationals in the wake of the humiliating ODI home series defeat to Afghanistan.

It was all too easy for Taylor to join the bandwagon of armchair critics and fuel the scorn. After all he was the best qualified to do so, with records paling into insignificance those of any of the ex-players bombarding the team with criticism.

But instead, Taylor was firm in defence of his old colleagues: so unmovable even in the face of insults from the maverick Mark Vermeulen, who took to personal attack, calling Taylor a “little f***” among other unprintable slurs, and even going to the extent of, as you’d expect of Vermeulen in such situations when debates get too scholarly for his grasp, threaten violence.

But Taylor is not one to shy away from confrontation himself. He boldly stood up to Vermeulen, hitting back by asking how a crazed arsonist like him was not doing time behind bars for setting fire on two cricket facilities and leaving one of them in ruins.

Such is Taylor, a fiercely loyal man, loyal to people with whom he has shared trials and tribulations and fought on the same side. Take for instance in 2011 when the controversial and out-of-form Bangladesh batsman, Tamim Iqbal, at the height of frustration during a difficult tour here, labelled Zimbabwean bowlers Brian Vitori and Kyle Jarvis “overrated” and “average.”

Riled by the unwarranted attack on two members of his troops, Taylor told Tamim to zip up and concentrate on trying to work out how best he could put runs on the board for his team. What should we expect from Taylor in his international comeback?

My answer is an ever better Brendan Taylor.

As a cricketer, Taylor is always learning, and what he brings from his Notts stint can only be many valuable lessons of cricket.

I recall an interview we did in 2004 when Zimbabwe was preparing to host Bangladesh. A 19-year-old rising prodigy back then, he had arrived back home for that series, mid-season, from playing club cricket in the UK for Lancashire side Sefton Park.

He was Sefton Park’s highest run-scorer at that time and he told me how much he had learnt there — adjusting his footwork, playing on swinging wickets and judging the flight of the ball.

And boy, did not we see Taylor blossom into something very special in the years to come?

Pity, Zimbabwe’s Test interruption between 2004 and 2011 meant we have seen less of our star player in the five-day format than we should have. But his tally of 1 493 Test runs in 23 outings is pretty decent returns for a player who has had to do it without much top-quality support around him.

Not, of course, forgetting his fabulous ODI record, amongst them the two back-to-back centuries (including at the World Cup), and surpassing Alistair Campbell’s record of seven one-day hundreds by one.

There’s a lot more of this left in BT if you ask me.
https://www.theindependent.co.zw/

The funny thing is I only made the heading "The Messiah returns" to piss off Hhm :lol: :lol:
Chairman of the Neville Madziva fan Club

Originator of the #mumbamania movement

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eugene
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Re: Taylor: The return of the Messiah

Post by eugene »

I thought hhm was the Messiah?
Neil Johnson, Alistair Campbell, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), Grant Flower, Dave Houghton, Guy Whittall, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Ray Price, Eddo Brandes

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CrimsonAvenger
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Re: Taylor: The return of the Messiah

Post by CrimsonAvenger »

Would be great to have Enock Muchinjo regularly on the forums...

ZIMDOGGY
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Re: Taylor: The return of the Messiah

Post by ZIMDOGGY »

If you/forum members are creating threads/headlines to get at HHM or with him in mind, then it proves that hhm has won his battle against the forum.
Checkmate, well done hhm!
Cricinfo profile of the 'James Bond' of cricket:

FULL NAME: Angus James Mackay
BORN: 13 June 1967, Harare
KNOWN AS: Gus Mackay

'The' Gus Mackay.

Hero.
Sportsman.
Artist.
Player.

**
Q. VUSI SIBANDA, WHERE DO YOU HOP?

A. UNDA DA ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE*

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CrimsonAvenger
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Re: Taylor: The return of the Messiah

Post by CrimsonAvenger »

ZIMDOGGY wrote:
Sat Sep 23, 2017 6:18 am
If you/forum members are creating threads/headlines to get at HHM or with him in mind, then it proves that hhm has won his battle against the forum.
Checkmate, well done hhm!
+1. Refrain from this.

pariah
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Re: Taylor: The return of the Messiah

Post by pariah »

CrimsonAvenger wrote:
Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:55 am
ZIMDOGGY wrote:
Sat Sep 23, 2017 6:18 am
If you/forum members are creating threads/headlines to get at HHM or with him in mind, then it proves that hhm has won his battle against the forum.
Checkmate, well done hhm!
+1. Refrain from this.
Only jaybro and flakeman do this. Very naughty boy. But overall check the threads across the 3/4 pages. None of the content backs this up. Mostly cricket based chat.

Plenty of sarcasm in the face of stats/facts though. CA not blameless either :D

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jaybro
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Re: Taylor: The return of the Messiah

Post by jaybro »

CrimsonAvenger wrote:
Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:55 am
ZIMDOGGY wrote:
Sat Sep 23, 2017 6:18 am
If you/forum members are creating threads/headlines to get at HHM or with him in mind, then it proves that hhm has won his battle against the forum.
Checkmate, well done hhm!
+1. Refrain from this.
Ok fellas relax I was simply posting the article about BRMT returning and thought I'd 'overstate' the headline ( much like Hhm does ) just for a laugh, obviously it worked as the next day he posted the ridiculous thread abut BRMT having poor away stats whilst not counting the neutral matches.

So calm down no need to hand over the keys to castle yet fellas.

The point of this thread was that the local journos are obviously reading our forum which is IMO credit to the forum.
Chairman of the Neville Madziva fan Club

Originator of the #mumbamania movement

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