On 23 August, Zimbabwe fans came to know that Heath Streak passed away at the age of 49 and as per his former teammates, he lost his life after a courageous battle with cancer. His former teammate, Henry Olonga came up on social media and wrote: "Sad news coming through that Heath Streak has crossed to the other side."
But, after that, Olonga came up with a strange tweet along with a screenshot of his Whatsapp chat with Steak. He confirmed that the death of Steak was just a fake rumour and that the Zimbabwe legend is alive. He 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.”
Here is the shared tweet:
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. pic.twitter.com/LQs6bcjWSB
— Henry Olonga (@henryolonga) August 23, 2023
Heath Streak made his International debut in 1993
Streak played for his country for a span of 12 years. He represented Zimbabwe in 65 Tests and 189 ODIs. In the 50-over format, he took 239 wickets while in the Test format, he grabbed 216 wickets. Steak also led his country from 2000 to 2004. Still, he is the only cricketer from Zimbabwe to take 100 Test wickets. Apart from him, other former and current cricketers like Scott Styris, Sean Williams, and Ravichandran Ashwin also shared their condolence. However, apart from bowling, Steak also came up with some performances with the bat also during his playing days.
In 107 Test innings, he scored 1990 runs, including 11 fifties and one century. His highest Test score of 127* came against West Indies in Harare. While in 159 ODI innings, he scored 2943 runs, including 13 fifties. In 1993, he made his International debut and it was an ODI match vs South Africa in November. Then, Steak made his Test debut against Pakistan in December 1993 at Karachi. The former Zimbabwe skipper announced his retirement from his international career in 2005 After his playing days, he took some coaching roles with Zimbabwe, Scotland, Bangladesh, Gujarat Lions, and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Here is how fans have reacted:
Is this for real?
— Adam Theo🇿🇼🏏 (@AdamTheofilatos) August 23, 2023
Can the real Heath Streak share an update or something? This is getting weird.
— Adi (@iamadipatil) August 23, 2023
Thank God. pic.twitter.com/eIzUBaTSvR
— EngiNerd. (@mainbhiengineer) August 23, 2023
Heath streak be like pic.twitter.com/mL6aAVvpgN
— भाई साहब (@Bhai_saheb) August 23, 2023
Wow thank God he is alive 🙏🏽
— Susan (@CCC4lye) August 23, 2023
Are you for real or your account has been hacked or something??
— Taps Chaps (@tapscola) August 23, 2023
Bkl ek baar me nhi bta skta Zinda h k mar gya, baat change kr rha h
— Debashish Sarangi (@Plumb_infront) August 23, 2023
Let's pray for Heath's good health 🙏
— Vinesh Prabhu (@vlp1994) August 23, 2023
Pheww
— BIG POPPA (@Reddington321) August 23, 2023