Cricketer Brendan Taylor in Location-Correcting Blackmail Following Snorting Cocaine

Posted on: January 25, 2022, 04:35h. 

Last up to date on: January 25, 2022, 05:04h.

Philip Conneller

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The previous captain of the Zimbabwe cricket crew has described on social media how he was blackmailed by a gambling syndicate to manipulate a match just after its members videoed him snorting cocaine.

Brendan Taylor, 35, did not go as a result of with the group’s requires to “spot-fix” in intercontinental cricket matches. But his story provides a stark warning about how naïve athletes can be coerced into corruption by prison gangs.

Place-correcting describes the manipulation not of the closing final result, but of the trivialities of a match. In cricket, this could be the range of “no balls,” for example, the game’s equal of a “ball” in baseball.

The increase of internet betting has enabled gamblers to put bets on these smaller aspects, or places, within just a match.

The Hook

Taylor claims he was approached by an Indian “businessman” in Oct 2019. The unnamed determine preferred to talk about a possible sponsorship offer and the achievable establishment of a T20 league (a brief-cricket structure) in Zimbabwe.

The guy explained to Taylor he would be compensated US$15,000 to travel to India to talk about these ideas. Taylor reported he was “wary” of the technique. But at the time, he hadn’t been compensated for 6 months by Zimbabwe Cricket, the domestic governing physique.

Next a federal government backlash, quite a few of its very best gamers remaining the match, whilst Mugabe’s financial mismanagement slowly crippled the nation’s financial system. Gamers have been sporadically preventing Zimbabwe Cricket, which critics say is a software of the federal government, over politics and payments ever given that.

And there are handful of prettier sights to a match-repairing syndicate than a terribly remunerated top-degree sportsman.

The Set-Up

Taylor produced the excursion, but his apprehensions were being allayed when conversations with the businessman and his associates ended up limited to pre-agreed topics of professional partnerships and the T20 league.

On the past night, he was taken for a celebratory evening meal, which concerned cocaine use, and Taylor partook.

The Sting

The upcoming morning, he claims the similar adult males stormed into his hotel place and confirmed him a online video taken of him snorting cocaine. They mentioned the movie would be created community unless of course he agreed to location correct.

“I was cornered. And with 6 of these people today in my resort space, I was afraid for my have basic safety,” Taylor wrote. “I’d fallen for it. I’d willingly walked into a condition that has improved my lifetime endlessly.”

Taylor stated he accepted the $15,000, which he was explained to was now a “deposit” for location-correcting. He would be paid out a more $20,000 the moment he had concluded the position. He suggests he recognized the cash so he could get out of India.

I would like to place on file that I have under no circumstances been associated in any sort of match-repairing. I might be several factors, but I am not a cheat,” included Taylor, who introduced his retirement from international cricket final 12 months.

The Shut-Out

Four months just after the incident, he described it to the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC), the sport’s environment governing system.

Despite picking not to comply with the syndicate’s calls for, he nevertheless faces sanctions because the ICC’s anti-corruption code states all match-correcting ways have to be claimed “without unwanted hold off.”

Taylor states the incident has seriously impacted his psychological and physical health, ensuing a health care provider prescribing the anti-psychotic drug amitriptyline. He is trying to get aid for challenges with material abuse.

“I want to be a superior model of myself,” he explained.