On January 28, the International Cricket Council banned ex-Zimbabwe skipper Brendan Taylor from associating with cricket in any form or shape over the next three and a half years following a delay in reporting a corrupt approach.
In their media release, the ICC said Taylor accepted the charge and the ban imposed by the governing body after his failure to inform them of an approach made by corrupters to spot-fix matches. He also accepted a charge of breaching the doping code of the ICC after inhaling an illegal drug.
The details of the shocking incident were brought to light by Taylor himself earlier this week. In a statement issued over social media, the 35-year-old had narrated the incident dating back to October 2019 when he was asked to come to India by a businessman settled here. The discussions were to be held with regards to a T20 tournament in Zimbabwe.
But it all turned out to be foul play and a trap, as Taylor confirmed that on his last day of the hotel stay he was asked to join the businessman and his allies for drinks and cocaine. Initially hesitant, Taylor later took the “bait” and got accustomed to the drug.
The scenes of him taking the drug were recorded in a video without his knowledge and were used as a means to blackmail him by the businessman the following morning when those individuals stormed into his room and threatened him for life if he didn’t spot-fix matches for them.
Taylor was offered an amount of USD $15,000 to come to India for the discussions, which took place at the time when Zimbabwe were facing potential exit from ICC membership for maladministration and their players were staring at an uncertain future.
This amount now acted as a “deposit” for him to do spot-fixing and he was told he will be given a further USD $ 20,000 on completing the “job”, Taylor had confirmed.
Taylor said in his statement that he never indulged in any spot-fixing but said since he was extensively worried for his and his family’s livelihood and was battling drug habit because of inhaling cocaine that day, he couldn’t gather the courage to immediately report the approach to the ICC and could do so only after four months.
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Taylor had said in his statement that the ICC are about to impose a “multi-year” ban on him, which has been given a timeframe of three and a half years by the governing body.
The ICC found Taylor in breach of as many as four Anti-Corruption Unit codes, with an additional charge of delaying the ACU’s investigation in the matter because of his four-month late approach and also deleting the messages of back and forth between him and the businessman named “Mr S”.
