His wife Nadine Streak took to social media to confirm the news. “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,” she wrote on Facebook.

This comes a week after fake reports of Heath’s death were circulated on social media. His former teammate, Henry Olonga, who had posted the unverified news on his official X profile, later apologised for the gaffe.

Streak played 65 Tests and 189 ODIs for Zimbabwe from 1993-2005 while scoring 4933 runs and taking 455 wickets for his country across formats. He still remains the only Zimbabwe bowler with more than 100 Test and over 200 ODI wickets. In 2021, hewas banned for eight years from cricketing activities for violating the ICC’s anti-corruption policy by allegedly leaking inside-information about T20 leagues, including the Indian Premier League.

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.