New Zealand National Cricket Team vs Zimbabwe Cricket Team Match Scorecard: Brendan Taylor made an emotional return to the Zimbabwe Test team after four years as he was named in the playing XI for the second Test against New Zealand on Thursday. The match is being played at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. Taylor was banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in January 2022 for three and a half years. The ban followed his failure to report a corrupt approach from an Indian businessman in 2019 and a positive drug test for cocaine use. Taylor last played a Test match in July 2021 against Bangladesh and featured in an ODI in September 2021 against Ireland.
Taylor is also closing in on a major milestone. He is just 62 runs away from reaching 10,000 international runs across formats. So far, he has scored 9938 runs, including 2320 in Tests, 6684 in ODIs and 934 in T20Is. With 17 centuries and 51 fifties in 284 matches for Zimbabwe, he is widely regarded as one of the country’s greatest cricketers. If he reaches the mark, Taylor will become only the third Zimbabwean to score 10,000 international runs, after Andy Flower (11,580) and Grant Flower (10,028).
He replaced Ben Curran in Zimbabwe’s playing XI for the second Test and opened the innings after captain Craig Ervine won the toss and chose to bat first. Taylor had been with the squad during the first Test and was seen training with the team in recent months.
Meanwhile, New Zealand handed Test debuts to Jacob Duffy, Zakary Foulkes and Matthew Fisher. They replaced Michael Bracewell, Nathan Smith and William O’Rourke in the playing XI.
Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine won the toss and chose to bat first.
"We are going to have a bat first again. This wicket looks a lot better, lot less grass and expect it to play better. We keep talking about learning, now we want to see the improvements from the last few Tests we have played. The guys have reflected individually and have done their work, it is about putting that work into the game. Brendan Taylor comes back. He (Brendan Taylor) has brought a lot of calmness, he was with the guys in the first Test as well and has been brilliant around the change room," Ervine said during the toss.
"We were going to have a bowl. But like Craig said, less grass and it might play better. We had a couple of days off and a couple of days of training. Unfortunately Tom (Latham) hasn't recovered. We have three changes - Jacob Duffy, Zakary Foulkes and Matthew Fisher make their debuts," Mitchell Santner said.
New Zealand are leading the two-match series 1-0 after winning the first Test by nine wickets in Bulawayo.
Playing XIs for the Second Test
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Brendan Taylor, Nick Welch, Sean Williams, Craig Ervine (capt), Sikandar Raza, Tafadzwa Tsiga (wk), Vincent Masekesa, Blessing Muzarabani, Trevor Gwandu, Tanaka Chivanga
New Zealand: Will Young, Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Mitchell Santner (capt), Zakary Foulkes, Matt Henry, Matthew Fisher, Jacob Duffy
Where to Watch in India
There is no official broadcaster for the Zimbabwe vs New Zealand Test series in India. However, fans can watch the matches live on the FanCode app.
