Former Zimbabwe skipper Heath Streak passed away on Sunday after a prolonged battle with advanced colon and liver cancer. He was 49. He is survived by his wife, Nadine and four children.

Streak, arguably Zimbabwe’s greatest all-rounder, had been receiving specialist treatment at a Johannesburg hospital, travelling from his home in Bulawayo on a bi-weekly basis since May.

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“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,” Nadine wrote on social media.

A couple of weeks ago, rumours of Streak’s demise had emerged on social media from his former teammate Henry Olonga. However, the news turned out to be false with Olonga himself clarifying that Streak was alive. However, the news of the legendary cricketer’s death this time was confirmed by his wife.

Streak represented Zimbabwe in 65 Tests, making him their second-most capped Test player, and 189 ODIs between 1993 and 2005. He was their leading bowler, with 216 Test wickets and 239 ODI wickets – also the only Zimbabwe bowler to take more than 100 Test wickets and over 200 ODI wickets. He was also their seventh-highest Test run-scorer, with 1990 runs, and one of 16 Zimbabwe batters to score more than 2,000 ODI runs, finishing with 2,943.

Streak made his international debut as a 19-year-old in an abandoned game against South Africa in Bengaluru during the 1993 Hero Cup, a five-team tournament played in India. He also got his Test cap that year, against Pakistan in Karachi, and took eight wickets in the next match in Rawalpindi.

After making his debut, Streak played in all eight Tests that Zimbabwe won over the course of his career. He was a mainstay of the ODI side and played in three World Cups – in 1996, 1999 and 2003 – and took 3 for 36 and 3 for 35 in their wins over India and South Africa in the 1999 tournament in England.

Streak retired from international cricket at the age of 32 in 2005. In between, he captained the Zimbabwe team twice, and after hanging his boots, he took up coaching. His first stint as a coach was with the Zimbabwe team in 2009 and went on to guide the side to make their Test comeback after a six-year self-imposed exile in 2011.

He later served as the bowling coach of Bangladesh (2014-2016) and Gujarat Lions (in the 2016 and 2017 editions of the IPL) and then returned home to take over as Zimbabwe’s head coach in October 2016, tasked with ensuring the team qualified for the 2019 World Cup. However, when the Zimbabweans failed to qualify for the World Cup, Streak and the entire support staff was shown the door. He later took charge of the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise in the IPL.

In 2021, he was handed an eight-year ban after being charged and admitting to five breaches of the International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption code, which he had later denied but the ban continued till his last breath.