Former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak is very much alive and doing well. News of his death started doing the rounds on Tuesday when his former teammate Henry Olonga who got the fake news about Streak's demise.
Heath Streak sent Olonga a text confirming that he is alive, after which the entire cricketing fraternity breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"Very much alive..pse revert this runout immediately buddy," said Streak in his WhatsApp message to Olonga.
After receiving the WhatsApp message from Streak, Olonga tweeted, "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 also deleted his earlier tweet in which he had implied that Streak had passed away.
Social media was abuzz with the latest development with fans and cricketers taking to X to express their relief that Streak was alive.
"Having read many news reports about Heath Streak, I’m so happy to learn the news was incorrect," Adam Gilchrist tweeted.
Heath Streak left upset and disappointed
Streak also expressed his disappointment and said that he was very upset after getting the news of his own passing.
"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, I believe the source should apologise. I am hurt by the news," Streak, 49, told Mid-Day in his first official reaction to the news.
Heath Streak led Zimbabwe from 2000 to 2004 in Tests and ODIs. He played 65 Tests and 189 ODIs in which he bagged 216 and 239 wickets to finish as Zimbabwe's highest wicket taker in international cricket across formats. The all-rounder also amassed 1990 runs in Tests and 2901 in ODI cricket.
