Zimbabwe veteran wicketkeeper-batter Brendan Taylor etched his name into cricket history by surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s long-standing record for the longest career span in One-Day Internationals (ODIs).
Taylor achieved the milestone when he took the field for Zimbabwe in the opening ODI against Australia at the Harare Sports Club on Tuesday.
The 39-year-old cricketer, who returned to international cricket in 2025 following retirement and a three-and-a-half-year ICC suspension, now holds the record for the longest ODI career span at 22 years and 146 days since making his debut in 2004.
He overtook Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, whose celebrated ODI career lasted 22 years and 91 days between 1989 and 2012.
Taylor has been one of Zimbabwe’s most prolific batters over the years. Before the Australia series, he had scored 6,704 runs in 205 ODI innings, making him Zimbabwe’s second-highest run-scorer in the format behind Andy Flower, who amassed 6,786 runs in 208 innings.
A former captain across all three formats, Taylor was among Zimbabwe’s standout performers at the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, scoring two centuries, including a memorable hundred against India.
Following that World Cup, Taylor left international cricket after signing a three-year Kolpak deal with Nottinghamshire. However, he returned to the Zimbabwe setup more than two years later.
Taylor announced his retirement from international cricket in 2021, describing his journey with Zimbabwe as one filled with “extreme highs and extreme lows.” He later revealed that he had been targeted by corruptors in 2019, alleging that he was offered cocaine and subsequently blackmailed.
After delaying the reporting of the incident to the International Cricket Council, Taylor received a three-and-a-half-year suspension.
While he had considered moving into coaching, Zimbabwe Cricket Managing Director Givemore Makoni encouraged him to make a comeback with an eye on the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Taylor’s return has now culminated in a remarkable personal milestone, as he becomes the player with the longest career span in ODI cricket history.