When it comes to speaking from the heart on Zimbabwean cricket, there are few people more qualified to do so than Brendan Taylor.
The wicketkeeper-batter, who also spent three seasons in Nottinghamshire green and gold, represented his country on 284 occasions in all formats, captaining in 75 of them, and scored over 9,000 runs.
It is a tally that puts Taylor third on Zimbabwe’s all-time leading run-scorers’ list, narrowly behind only Andy and Grant Flower, while in another metric - his 17 international hundreds - he eclipses even those legendary brothers to stand clear at the top.
Runs continued to flow from his bat during the years he spent in Nottingham, notching over 3,000 between 2015 and 2017, a stint that included being part of the famed double-winning Outlaws side in his final season.
Consequently, he can hardly be seen as anything other than a leading authority on the sport in his nation of almost 17 million people in southern Africa.
Ahead of the Chevrons’ Test match against England at Trent Bridge next month, their first outing in the format on these shores for over two decades, Taylor’s opinions on the current state of the team, and its prospects, are clear.
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“I think - and I’ve said this a number of times recently - looking as an outsider in the last few years, the administration have made some big strides to recruit players,” he says.
“As long I as I was playing, we couldn’t ever do that. Our pool of talent would leave, and we’d rely on a few individuals, but Zimbabwe cricket seems to be climbing out of that and propelling forward in a very positive manner.
“I think Zimbabwean cricket is in the best place it’s ever been, and I haven’t even experienced it yet, but when I chat to the group, they seem very excited about it.”
Taylor’s optimism is hardly unfounded, either. The clash in Nottingham, which takes place from 22 to 25 May, is a new landmark moment for cricket in Zimbabwe, as the first time the side will travel to any of the ‘big three’ Test playing nations since 2003.
“No doubt, it’s important to play those games,” enthuses Taylor, who never played against England or Australia despite his long and storied Test career, and only faced India - in a home series - in two games.
“Zimbabwe cricket has, for many years, lacked continuity - we’d play once every couple of months, then not play again for a while, and we’d have to pick it up again,” he explains.
“We’ve always seemed to string things together a little bit better when we’ve got some cricket behind us, like most teams probably would.
“Hopefully this Test match against England can lead to other things, like playing in Australia, New Zealand, and India.
“Whenever we’ve been to the subcontinent, we’ve been to Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, but not much past that. These are exciting times, and hopefully they just keep coming, because that’s how we get better!”
Taylor is also acutely aware of the size of the task facing Zimbabwe when they take on Ben Stokes’ Three Lions, but sees the challenge as one to be embraced rather than shied away from.
“It’s going to be an enormous uphill battle, make no mistake about that!” smiled Taylor. “The guys are aware of that, just with the Dukes ball alone, and then with the skill of England and how good they are [at home], it’s quite a challenge.
“There aren’t many of the guys who have experience in England; Ben Curran and Blessing Muzarabani were at Northants, and Nick Welch [was] at Leicestershire, but a lot of them need that experience.
“That’s what we all live for, the chance to play against the best, and to do it in their own back yard, that’s great. It’s something I would have loved to have been a part of, and especially at what became my second home - but it was not to be.
“It’s going to be a tough few days though. If the weather holds out, that’d be ideal - but if the weather comes in, you’re looking at a tough time for the batters!”
The notion of tough conditions rings true for many touring batters to these shores over recent years, and Taylor himself freely admits he had to learn quickly how to acclimatise to English conditions while playing for Notts.
He describes facing the Dukes ball as “quite humbling at times!” and admits he learned many “valuable lessons” from doing so.
However, he is keen to see how the Chevrons, many of whom he still knows personally, adapt to what will be a baptism of fire at Trent Bridge, and backs their ability to more than hold their own against England.
“I throw a lot of cricket balls at [the current squad]! I’m really trying to enhance my skills as a coach, and get better at that, so I’ve built relationships there.
“Sikandar Raza might be up against it with the red ball, as a player who’s built his skills in white-ball cricket, but he’s a phenomenal player.
“Craig Ervine has been a [very loyal] servant to Zimbabwe cricket, and is an unbelievable player in his own right. Sean Williams, he’s very experienced too.
“[Someone who is] very well thought of too is Brian Bennett. He’s a wonderful kid, who has a very bright future, and he’s supremely talented. He’s a fearless cricketer, he bats at the top of the order, and he bowls some pretty handy off-spinners too.
“He’s mad for cricket, he loves it, and he has a bright future. He conducts himself very well too, he’s got the right mentality for this sort of game, and he’s quite a simple guy; he keeps everything very simple, very softly-spoken. He’s a lovely character as well.
“The guys are going to have to be very skilled, technically, to prepare for what’s going to come, but it’s exciting times.
“It’s nice to get out of Zimbabwe and to go and play one of the best Test-playing outfits in the world. I’m sure they’re all fired up for that!”
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