Karen Streak, the mother of the former Zimbabwe international cricket all-rounder has just confirmed that it is fake news that her son is dead.
Zimbabweans have been on overdrive announcing that the former star cricketer died yesterday.
This even includes his former teammate Henry Olonga.
“Heath is not well, but he is fine. He is here at the farm, walking about and cracking jokes.
“As a family, we are disturbed by the news and the phone has not stopped ringing, considering who Heath is. I am picking up the phones so that I put the record straight,” said Karen.
Heath has not been well for some time and was diagnosed with stage four cancer and has been receiving treatment at home and in South Africa.
The family spokesperson, Joseph Rego also confirmed this morning that Heath is alive and at the farm.
“He is fine, it’s not true that he is no more. I would have been among the first ones to know and release the information,” said Rego a long-time friend and advisor of Streak.
The news below is not true
Former Zimbabwe cricket captain Heath Streak died from cancer aged 49 on Tuesday.
Former teammates described him as a legend.
Henry Olonga, a retired pace bowler, described Streak, who was born in Bulawayo, as “the greatest all-rounder we produced.”
“It was a pleasure playing with you. See you on the other side when my bowling spell comes to an end,” Olonga tweeted.
With a crying emoji, current Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams tweeted: “Streaky. No words can explain what you and your family have done for mine and many others Our hearts our broken you leave behind a beautiful family and a legacy for us to live up to! You will b missed we love you dearly Rest in peace Streaky.”
A key member of what is considered the “golden era” of Zimbabwean cricket from 1997 to 2002, Streak played 65 Tests and 189 ODIs for Zimbabwe. He is the all time leading wicket taker for Zimbabwe in Test cricket with 216 wickets and in ODI cricket with 239 wickets.
He is the first and only Zimbabwean bowler to have taken over 100 Test wickets and one of only four Zimbabwean bowlers to have taken over 100 ODI wickets. He is the first and only Zimbabwean to have completed the double of 1,000 career runs and 100 wickets in test cricket as well as the first and only Zimbabwean to have completed the double of 2,000 runs and 200 wickets in ODIs.
With seven five wicket hauls in his test career, he holds the record for taking the most number of five wicket hauls by a Zimbabwean bowler in test cricket.
Streak was hospitalised in South Africa in May after going down with what friends said was colon and liver cancer.
Former sports minister David Coltart, writing on Twitter at the time, said Streak was “on his last legs” with his family rushing from London to be by his side.
“Seems only a miracle will save him,” Coltart said.
Streak retired from professional cricket in 2005 and in August 2009 he was appointed as the bowling coach for Zimbabwe. In 2010, along with his former teammate Grant Flower, Streak became a supporting coach of Zimbabwe under former English cricketer Alan Butcher.
In 2013, his contract was not renewed for financial reasons.
In April 2021, Streak was banned from all cricketing activities for eight years for breaching the ICC’s anti-corruption policies. He was found guilty of assisting a corruptor known as “Mr X” contact players.
Streak received two bitcoins (worth around US$35,000), and an iPhone as payment from the corruptor in 2017. He was accused of disclosing inside information (non-public information) about the franchise T20 leagues including Indian Premier League, Pakistan Super League and Afghanistan Premier League.
He accepted the ban by the ICC but denied the match fixing claims against him.
