Former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak passes away at 49 after losing cancer battle

Bulawayo, Sep 3 (IANS) Former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak has passed away at 49 after losing his battle against cancer. Streak's demise on Sunday was confirmed by his wife Nadine and comes nearly two weeks after reports of his death were denied by the former all-rounder himself, as well as by former Zimbabwe cricketer Henry Olonga.

"In the early hours of this morning, Sunday the 3rd of September 2023, the greatest love of my life and the father of my beautiful children, was carried to be with the Angels from his home where he wished to spend his last days surrounded by his family and closest loved ones.

"He was covered in love and peace and did not walk off the Park alone. Our souls are joined for eternity Streaky. Till I hold you again," wrote Nadine on her Facebook post.

Streak, regarded by many as one of the finest all-rounders from Zimbabwe, took 216 wickets in 65 Tests and 239 scalps in 189 ODIs from 1993 to 2005. He also scored 4983 runs, including a century and 11 fifties. Streak is still the only bowler from Zimbabwe with more than 100 Test wickets and over 200 ODI wickets.

Apart from coaching Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, he had coaching stints with Somerset in English county circuit, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and now-defunct Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League (IPL), as well as in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and the Afghanistan Premier League (APL).

In May this year, it was revealed that Streak was fighting cancer and undergoing treatment in South Africa. He was handed an eight-year-ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2021 for breaching five counts of its anti-corruption code in 2018.