ICC Bans Former Zimbabwe Captain Brendan Taylor For Three-And-A-Half Years For Delay In Reporting Spot-Fixing Approach

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has banned Brendan Taylor for three-and-a-half years, just days after the former Zimbabwe captain released a statement admitting he had failed to immediately report a corrupt approach by an Indian businessman and that he was blackmailed after taking cocaine during that meeting. “Brendan Taylor has been handed a three-and-a-half year ban from all forms of cricket after he accepted four charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code and one separate charge of breaching the Anti-Doping Code,” the ICC announced in a release on Friday.

Taylor represented Zimbabwe in 284 international matches between 2004 and 2021, scoring 9,938 runs with 17 centuries.

“He accepted the sanctions after admitting to various breaches of the Anti-Corruption Code while a separate charge of breaching the Anti-Doping Code was levelled against him for a positive test result for the stimulant Benzoylecognine, a cocaine metabolite, in September last year,” added ICC.

“The first of Taylor’s anti-corruption breaches was for failing to disclose “(without unnecessary delay) the receipt of any gift, payment, hospitality or other benefit that (a) the participant knew or should have known was given to them to procure a breach of the Code or (b) that was made or given in circumstances that could bring the participant or the sport of cricket into disrepute’,” continued the ICC statement.

“Taylor was also guilty of not disclosing ‘(without unnecessary delay), a receipt of gifts/hospitality with a value of US$750 or more regardless of the circumstances in which they were given’,” it added.

“The third charge was not disclosing ‘(without unnecessary delay), full details of the approach received to engage in corrupt conduct under the Code’ including in relation to a then upcoming series against Sri Lanka and/or Bangladesh.

“In the fourth and final charge, Taylor breached the Code by obstructing or delaying an Anti-Corruption Unit investigation, including ‘concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence of or may lead to the discovery of evidence of corrupt conduct under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code’.”

Taylor, in a detailed confession on social media earlier this week, claimed that he was invited by the businessman to India to discuss “sponsorships” and potential launch of a T20 event in Zimbabwe besides an offer of USD 15,000 in October, 2019. He did not name the businessman in question.

“We had drinks and during the course of the evening they openly offered me cocaine, which they themselves engaged in, and I foolishly took the bait. I’ve gone over it a million times since and still feel sick to my stomach reliving that night and how they played me,” Taylor wrote.

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“The following morning, the same men stormed into my hotel room and showed me a video taken of me the night before doing cocaine and told me that if I did not spot fix at international matches for them, the video would be released to the public.

“I was cornered. And with 6 of these individuals in my hotel room, I was scared for my own safety. I’d fallen for it. I’d willingly walked into a situation that has changed my life forever.”