Former Zimbabwe cricket captain Heath Streak, who had been undergoing cancer treatment, has died. He was 49.
His death was confirmed by his former teammate Henry Olonga on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "Sad news coming through that Heath Streak has crossed to the other side. RIP Zimbabwe cricket legend. The greatest all-rounder we produced. It was a pleasure playing with you."
The all-rounder was undergoing treatment for cancer since May in South Africa.
Streak, the all-time leading test wicket-taker for his country, represented Zimbabwe in 65 Tests and 189 ODIs between 1993 and 2005. Throughout his career, he earned 1990 runs and 216 wickets in Tests, and 2943 runs and 239 wickets in ODIs.
He was also the only player from the country to get more than 100 Test wickets and over 200 ODI wickets. He became the team captain in the early 2000s, a time marked by souring relations between the cricket board and the team hit rock bottom. He quit as Zimbabwe's captain in 2004 after a clash with the board and retired from international cricket the next year.
Post-retirement, Streak served as Bangladesh coach and was the bowling coach of twice Indian Premier League champions Kolkata Knight Riders.
In 2021, Streak received an eight-year ban from the sport after admitting breaches of the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption code, including accepting payment in Bitcoin from a potential corruptor. He took "full responsibility" for his actions but said he was never involved in any attempts to fix matches.
He later admitted to disclosing inside information pertaining to international games.
Zimbabwe test skipper Sean Williams said Streak had left "a legacy for us to live up to"." No words can explain what you and your family have done for mine and many others," Williams said."You will be missed we love you dearly. Rest in peace Streaky."