Zimbabwe cricket legend Heath Streak rubbished the rumours of his death, saying that he was ‘hurt’ by the chatter over the subject on social media. It was Streak’s former teammate Henry Olonga who tweeted on Wednesday morning, saying his former teammate had died after a prolonged battle with cancer. In another tweet a few hours later, Olonga countered his own claim, saying the former Zimbabwe captain was, in fact, alive. Streak himself also spoke to a media outlet, falsifying the news of his death, saying he is alive and well.
“It is a total rumour and a lie. 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”, Streak was quoted as saying by Mid-Day.
“I believe the source should apologise. I am hurt by the news,” he added.
“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,” Olonga wrote in his tweet, hours after he himself announced that the Zimbabwe legend was dead.
The 49-year-old announced his retirement at the age of 31, in 2005. Streak still remains the only Zimbabwe bowler with more than 100 Test and over 200 ODI wickets. He captained Zimbabwe in 2000, at a time when a number of players withdrew from the national side as relations between the board and the team hit a rough patch. In his decorated career Streak played 65 matches and picked up 216 wickets with an economy of 2.69.
