Tatenda Taibu by CricketArchive

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Player:

T Taibu

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DateLine: 2nd December 2008

 

Tatenda Taibu the wicket keeper batsman from Zimbabwe started as an understudy to Andy Flower to the tour of England. Soon he became a regular wicket keeper after the retirement of Andy Flower and through some consistent performances for Zimbabwe with his bat impressed one and all. His penchant for cross bat strokes and reverse sweeps like Andy Flower got him a lot of runs and made him a success at international level. In April 2004, he was appointed captain of Zimbabwe following the resignation of Heath Streak, and he led a woefully inexperienced by example in the face of repeated heavy defeats. But the pressure began to tell, and by the autumn of 2005 he found himself at the front of another players revolt, this time widely backed and against the general mismanagement of the board. It led to him being villified in the domestic press and threatened by some unsavoury elements connected to the board itself, and in November 2005 he announced his resignation as captain and his retirement from international cricket. Of all the high-profile departures from the game in Zimbabwe, none were felt so deeply as Taibu - a home-grown product, a world-class wicketkeeper-batsman, and the country's first black captain. After spells in Bangladesh and England, he moved to South Africa later in 2006 and made clear his intention to sit out the four-year qualification to try to play international cricket for them. But it didn't work out, and to more than a few raised eyebrows he reappeared in Zimbabwe colours in mid 2007 under the captaincy of Prosper Utseya.