Breaking Bad: Zimbabwe Cricket Legend Heath Streak Dies From Cancer Aged 49
On Tuesday, former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak died of cancer at the age of 49. Streak represented Zimbabwe in 65 Tests and 189 ODIs, retiring as the country's highest wicket-taker in Tests with 216 wickets and in ODIs with 239 scalps.
Streak was admitted to the hospital in May after being diagnosed with colon and liver cancer. Between 1997 and 2002, Streak was a member of Zimbabwe's golden age of cricketers. Over the course of his ten-year career, he scored 4,933 runs and captured 455 wickets in both forms.
"It was great fun playing with you. "See you on the other side when my bowling spell ends," Streak's former teammate and fast bowler Henry Olonga said on micro-blogging platform 'X' (previously known as Twitter), while current Zimbaber captain also paid respect to one of the game's best allrounders.
"Streaky. There are no words to describe what you and your family have done for my family and many others. Our hearts are devastated because you leave behind a wonderful family and a legacy for us to follow! We shall miss you and miss you terribly. "Rest in peace, Streaky," Williams wrote on Facebook.
Streak led Zimbabwe in the 2000s before stepping down in 2004 due to a disagreement with the board. He withdrew from international cricket a year later, at the age of 31.
After retiring in 2005, Streak became the national team's bowling coach in 2009, and a year later was part of the coaching staff that includes Grant Flower and former English cricketer Alan Butcher.
Streak was found guilty of assisting a bookie in contacting players during a franchise-based competition in 2021 and was barred from all cricketing activities for eight years for violating the ICC's anti-corruption standards.
He accepted the ICC ban but denied the match-fixing allegations levelled against him.
Streak was discovered to have leaked information in relation to matches in the 2018 Tri-Series between Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, the Zimbabwe v Afghanistan series in 2018, and domestic tournaments such as the Indian Premier League in 2018.
Following his retirement, he worked as the bowling coach for IPL teams Kolkata Knight Riders and the now-defunct Gujarat Lions, as well as Bangladesh and Somerset.