Former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak passed away in the early hours of Sunday at his farm in Matabeleland. He was 49.

John Rennie, a former Zimbabwe international and the spokesperson for the family, confirmed the development to  Sportstar. “He passed away in the early hours of the morning at his farm at Matabeleland. He was surrounded by his family and loved ones. He died peacefully after a long fight with cancer,” Rennie said.

A couple of weeks ago, Streak’s former colleague Henry Olonga announced on social media about Streak’s death. However, later both Streak and Olonga confirmed that the news was untrue and Olonga even offered an apology for his previous post. One of the biggest names of Zimbabwe cricket, Streak was handed an eight-year-ban by the International Cricket Council in 2021 for breaching the anti-corruption code in 2018.

One of Zimbabwe’s greatest cricketers, Streak ended with 216 wickets in Tests and 239 in ODIs and after moving on from international cricket, he coached several international sidse – including Zimbabwe, Bangladesh – and quite a few Indian Premier League outfits like Kolkata Knight Riders and the now-defunct Rajkot franchise.