By sports journalist
FORMER Zimbabwe national cricket team captain Brendan Taylor has made a shocking confession that he took money to deliver reparations after being blackmailed by an Indian businessman because of his cocaine use.
Spot-fixing is an illegal activity in a sport in which a specific aspect of a game, unrelated to the final result but in which a betting market exists, is fixed in order to secure a certain result in a bet of proposal.
Taylor is the second Zimbabwean cricketer to be involved in corrupt activities after another former Zimbabwe captain, Heath Streak, who is serving an eight-year ban for breaching the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption code.
“I have carried a burden for over two years which has unfortunately taken me to very dark places and had a profound effect on my mental health,” Taylor said in a written statement seen by NewZimbabwe.com on Monday.
Taylor, considered one of the best Zimbabwean players of his generation, explains how an Indian businessman offered him $15,000 to travel to India to discuss sponsorships.
He said that at the time Zimbabwe national cricketers were not paid for six months.
Taylor said he traveled to India and discussions took place at a hotel between the businessman and his colleagues.
“We drank during the evening. They openly offered me cocaine, which they used themselves, and I foolishly took the bait,” Taylor says.
“The next morning the same men broke into my hotel room and showed me a video taken of me the night before taking cocaine and told me that if I didn’t stare at them at matches international, the video would be made public.”
Taylor said that although he accepted a $15,000 deposit, he never followed through on the match-fixing deal and instead informed the ICC of his predicament.
The former Zimbabwe captain is facing a ban and says he is entering rehab to cope with his addiction.
The 35-year-old wicket-beater keeper, who is one of the best players Zimbabwe has ever produced, first quit international cricket after the 2015 World Cup after signing a Kolpak deal with Nottinghamshire. In 2017, Taylor terminated his contract with County and returned to Zimbabwe before ending his international career in September last year.
