A few reports circulated on social media platforms which claimed that legendary Zimbabwe all-rounder Heath Streak had passed away on August 23. However, former Zimbabwe pacer Henry Olonga has dismissed all the rumours of his former teammate’s death and tweeted that the third umpire has called him back.
Earlier, tributes began pouring from the cricket fraternity after various media reports claimed that Heath Streak has died following a battle with lung and liver cancer. Later, a tweet from Henry Olonga eventually put a full stop to all such rumors.
The third umpire has called him back: Henry Olonga on Heath Streak’s death rumors
Olonga took to Twitter on August 23 and wrote, “I can confirm that rumours of the demise of Heath Streak have been greatly exaggerated. I just heard from him. The third umpire has called him back. He is very much alive folks.”
https://twitter.com/henryolonga/status/1694212344732357101
The former Zimbabwe pacer also shared a screenshot of his conversation with Heath Streak.
“Very much alive please revert this run-out IMMEDIATELY buddy” read a text from Streak to his former teammate Olonga.
“Ha ha so good to hear. This thing grew legs quickly. You died overnight brother,” Olonga responded.
A couple of leading Zimbabwe sports and news websites, along with Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams were among the first to share about Heath Streak’s death. Indian cricketers Ravichandran Ashwin, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Anil Kumble too paid their condolences responding to the fake reports.
It’s worth noting that Streak is regarded as one the greatest cricketers to have played for Zimbabwe. The former Zimbabwe skipper played 65 Tests and 189 ODIs for his national side between 1993 and 2005.
He’s still the highest wicket-taker in both formats for Zimbabwe. The former captain bowled some heroic spells for his team and has 216 wickets in Tests and 239 wickets in ODIs against his name.
Heath Streak gave significant contributions with the bat as well and has amassed 1990 Test runs with a career-best of 127*. In the ODI format, he has scored 2943 runs in ODIs at an average of 28.29 and strike rate of 73.43.
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The former Zimbabwe all-rounder undertook various coaching assignments after his cricket career. He served as coach for the Bangladesh and Zimbabwe national side between 2016 and 2018. He also served as the bowling coach of IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018 and Gujarat Lions as well.