BY the time disgraced former Zimbabwe cricket team captain Brendan Taylor dropped a stunning letter early last week containing startling revelations on his cocaine habits and that he had been approached by an Indian businessman to fix matches, red flags on the national cricket team’s dismal performances which many had conveniently ignored had been signposted several times.

Taylor has since been handed a three-year ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

But there is something disturbing about Taylor’s letter, in particular the fact that he hid information on the scandal for a good four months. 

So many things, critical details which could bring to the fore and unravel important information on why the cricket team has been hopelessly out of sorts in the past few years were also left out of that letter which was nothing more than an attempt to pre-empt his embarrassing shenanigans.

We are going to be blunt on this one as usual.

What we find distasteful, if not appalling, is that Taylor, while trying to absolve himself in that letter, he, in fact, sold the country a dummy by leaving out critical details of his conduct during the time he was playing for the national team under the influence of cocaine.

That warrants an immediate and thorough investigation by the country’s authorities.

There should be no sacred cows on this matter and the robustness that was shown by the authorities in unearthing and punishing culprits of the infamous Asiagate scandal where the Zimbabwe senior men’s national team and other local clubs toured Asia, the Middle East as well North Africa from August 2007 to January 2010 and were paid to lose matches.

The outcry thatfollowed that damaging scandal was understandably deafening.

This is because soccer is the most followed sport in Zimbabwe and it, therefore, naturally follows that there is keen interest on activities in the game.

Certainly not with cricket, once a preserve of the whites some of whom openly denounced the country at the turn of the millennium.

That does not, however, take away the fact that the country’s name was brought into disrepute.

Zimbabwe cricket and Taylor should not be an exception.

And we are compelled to believe that since he belongs to that ‘sacred’ race, there is sympathy of some sort towards his wretched conduct.

Fresh in our minds is the lukewarm attention that was given to yet another former cricket national team captain Heath Streak who was last year handed an eight-year ban from cricket for a litany of charges that ranged from accepting bribes to throwing away matches as well as attempting to introduce players to betting syndicates.

Surely the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) can bring answers to the many questions that are currently on the people’s minds.

The nation needs to know what Taylor did, with who, when and how.

Taylor cannot hide behind committing himself to drug rehabilitation as he said in his letter.

He has already shown that he cannot be trusted given that he found it convenient to leave critical details of how he went about ‘business’ during the period in question.

Put simply, and beyond his dishonest letter, Taylor owes the nation an explanation and an apology, not the red herring he has sold the world in his dishonest letter.

“We had drinks (in 2019) and during the course of the evening, they openly offered me cocaine, which they themselves engaged in, and I foolishly took the bait,” he said in his letter of shame.

“It took me four months to report this offence and interaction to the ICC. 

I acknowledge this was too long of a time, but I thought I could protect everyone and, in particular, my family. 

I approached the ICC on my own terms and I hoped that if I explained my predicament, my genuine fear for our safety and wellbeing, that they would understand the delay.

Unfortunately, they did not, but I cannot feign ignorance in this regard. 

I have attended many anti-corruption seminars over the years and we know that time is of the essence when making reports.

I never been involved in any form of match-fixing.

I may be many things but I am not a cheat. 

My love for the beautiful game of cricket far outweighs and surpasses any threats which could be thrown my way.”

Let us unpack this scandal by poking holes into his threadbare narrative.

Taylor claims that he was ‘lured’ by an Indian businessman to throw matches, adding that he was filmed snorting cocaine; the reason he did not disclose his involvement in the betting scandal.

Fine and fair.

He also says he received US$15 000 from the said businessman.

Again fine and fair.

This is when the story ceases to connect with both sense and sanity.

Why did he hold on for long to that crucial information?

Interestingly, the Indian businessman says he is in fact owed US$40 000 by Taylor.

Let us hear the Indian businessman’s version according to The Times of India:

“There are allegations from both sides. 

While Taylor has alleged that he was offered 

US$15 000 by the ‘businessman’ to be a part of spot-fixing deals, the other party has alleged that Taylor took US$40 000 from him to be a part of the launch of a T20 tournament in Zimbabwe, and never returned the money.

“During their inquiry on this issue, the ICC sent its anti-corruption officer to India after these allegations surfaced from both Taylor and the ‘businessman’. 

He met the concerned parties during the inquiry that time.”

We will be following events with keen interest, hoping that the ‘noise’ and attention that Asiagate received will be the same if not more than what we have got so far in the Taylorgate scandal.