Heath Streak says ‘upset’ about death reports: ‘I believe the source should apologise’

By Agencies

Heath Streak was at his home in Zimbabwe when he heard news of his ‘demise’. As the news spread and tributes poured in from across the world, Streak confirmed to  Sportstar that he is in ‘good health and recovering from cancer’.

“People should be a bit more careful before spreading such rumours. I am better now and recovering from cancer,” a rather disappointed Streak said on Wednesday.

In other reports he was quoted as saying; “I’m alive and well. I am very upset to learn that something as big as someone apparently passing can be spread unverified especially in our day and age of social media”.

“I believe the source should apologise. I am hurt by the news.”

Earlier in the day, his former colleague Henry Olonga announced on social media about Streak’s death, and since Streak, who has been battling with colon cancer since May, does not have a social media account, so there was no way of telling the world that it’s ‘fake news’.

“I am at home and obviously there’s still a bit of strain because of the treatment. But otherwise I am fine,” the former Zimbabwe captain said.

“Suddenly I get to know that people have started talking about my death, as someone shared it on social media. But that was not all correct. I am recovering and feeling a lot better…”

Even Olonga later confirmed that Streak is alive and offered an apology for his previous post. One of the biggest names of Zimbabwe cricket, Streak was handed an eight-year-ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2021 for breaching the anti-corruption code in 2018.

Streak ended with 216 wickets in Tests and 239 in ODIs and after moving on from international cricket, he coached several international sides – including Zimbabwe and Bangladesh – and quite a few Indian Premier League (IPL) outfits like Kolkata Knight Riders and the now-defunct Rajkot franchise.

He was the first Zimbabwe cricketer to claim 100 wickets in both Tests and ODIs. He is also the only cricketer from the country to complete the double of 100 Test wickets and 1,000 Test runs and the only one from the country to score 2,000 runs and claim 200 wickets in ODIs.

Streak made his Test and ODI debut in 1993 and was appointed as the captain of the side in the 1999-2000 season.