Taylor recovers from illness, Ervine ruled out of T20I series against Pakistan

Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE have been boosted by the recovery, from illness of star batsman, Brendan Taylor ahead of the second Twenty20 International cricket contest against Pakistan at Harare Sports Club on Friday, with another veteran Craig Ervine ruled out of the rest of series by a calf muscle strain.

Taylor missed the first T20I on Wednesday, a match Zimbabwe lost by 11 runs because he was recovering from gastrointestinal infection but has recovered and should feature against Pakistan in the second T20I.

While Taylor is available, Ervine, who top scored for Zimbabwe with 34 runs on Wednesday, showed signs of discomfort while he was batting and has been ruled out of the T20I series. Ervine Suffered a right calf muscle strain while fielding during the first match at Harare Sports Club on Wednesday.

Tarisai Musakanda, one of the players placed on standby has been called up as a replacement for the injured Ervine.

Musakanda, who played nine T20I matches for Zimbabwe was part of the three-match series against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates where a lot was expected from him as a senior player but he had a best score of 30 runs in the last match of the tour. His best score remains the 43 off 35 balls he achieved on debut against Pakistan at Harare Sports Club in July 2018.

Taylor, who missed Zimbabwe’s away series against Afghanistan played in the United Arab Emirates last month due to illness, was in top form in the domestic T20 competition where he was the third leading run scorer with 205 runs. His unbeaten 140 for Rhinos against Eagles was the best individual score in the competition, with his effort however not good enough for his team as they still lost by six wickets after posting 194/1 in 20 overs.

Zimbabwe are looking to bounce back with a win and level the series to make the third and final T20I exciting on Sunday.

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