Former Zimbabwe captain and wicketkeeper-batsman Tatenda Taibu is returning on the cricket field as a player as he will feature in the upcoming Sri Lankan first-class cricket.
The 35-year-old Tatenda Taibu has recently signed for a Sri Lankan domestic team which is yet to be named and he is going to be available for the Sri Lankan first-class season.
Taibu retired from the professional cricket in 2012 at the age of 29. However, later in 2016, he returned to the cricket field after joining at Hightown St. Mary’s CC as a player-coach-development-officer in the second-division of the Liverpool & District Cricket Competition.
Soon after that, in the same year, Taibu became the Zimbabwe Cricket’s convener of selectors and development officer after accepting the role.
However, now Taibu is ready to open his cricket kits bag again after signing for a Sri Lankan domestic team. Highway publicist Nick Gordon reveals that Taibu approached them after they put out an advert for young overseas players.
Gordon told BBC Radio Merseyside, “It’s not every day that a club like Hightown St Mary’s signs a player like Tatenda. I had to do a double take, it was so unusual. We put out an advert for young players but he said ‘I’m not a young player, I’m a retired Test cricketer.
“This guy has played at an incredibly high standard of cricket and we are happy to take the risk. Even if he hasn’t picked up a bat since 2012, he will be more than sufficient for our needs this summer.”
At the age of just 18-year-old, Taibu made his international cricket debut in 2001. At the age of just 20 years and 358 days (6 May 2004), Taibu became the youngest ever Test captain and this record is still intact.
Taibu played 28 Tests, 150 ODIs and 17 T20Is where he scored 1,546 runs (average 30.31), 3,393 runs (average 29.25) and 259 runs (average 28.77) respectively.
Moreover, he has played 114 first-class matches, 231 List A matches and 48 T20s where he has scored 6,804 runs (average 38.22), 5,426 runs (average 30.82) and 887 runs (average 25.34) respectively.
