Heath Streak

Heath Streak

Personal information
Full name	Heath Hilton Streak
Born	(1974-03-16) 16 March 1974 Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Batting	Right-handed batsman
Bowling	Right-arm fast-medium
Role	All-rounder
Relations	Denis Streak (father)
International information
National side	Zimbabwe
Test debut (cap 20)	1 December 1993 v Pakistan
Last Test	20 September 2005 v India
ODI debut (cap 34)	10 November 1993 v South Africa
Last ODI	31 August 2005 v New Zealand
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1994-2004	Matabeleland
1995	Hampshire
2004-2007	Warwickshire
2007-2008	Ahmedabad Rockets
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 65 189 175 309 Runs scored 1990 2942 5684 4088 Batting average 22.35 28.28 26.31 25.71 100s/50s 1/11 0/13 6/27 0/14 Top score 127* 79* 131 90* Balls bowled 13559 9468 31117 14741 Wickets 216 239 499 385 Bowling average 28.14 29.82 28.76 28.55 5 wickets in innings 7 0 17 1 10 wickets in match 0 - 2 - Best bowling 6-73 5-32 7-55 5-32 Catches/stumpings 17/- 46/- 58/- 75/-
Source: CricketArchive

Heath Hilton Streak (born 16 March 1974, in Bulawayo) is a former Zimbabwean cricketer. He made his Test debut in Zimbabwe's tour of Pakistan 1993/1994 making his mark by taking 8 wickets in the 2nd Test at Rawalpindi ( 9–14 December 1993). He won the Man of the series award in that series taking 22 wickets at an average of 13.54. He bettered his best bowling figures in 1995 when Pakistan toured Zimbabwe taking 6/90 in the first Test at Harare.

In 1995/96, Streak played in the same Matabeleland team as his 46-year-old father Denis in the final of the Lonrho Logan Cup against Mashonaland Country Districts; this was the first instance of a father and son playing in the same first-class match for more than thirty years.

In 2000/2001, he won 2-man of the series awards, first in Zimbabwe's tour of England and then in Bangladesh's tour of Zimbabwe.

He is the only Zimbabwean bowler to have taken over 100 Test wickets and one of only 4 Zimbabwean bowlers to have taken over 100 ODI wickets (the others being Grant Flower, Prosper Utseya & Ray Price). There is little doubt that he is the best bowler to have played for Zimbabwe, with the ability to extract seam movement at a lively pace on even the deadest of wickets.

He retired from international cricket in October 2005 to become captain of Warwickshire County Cricket Club having previously played county cricket for Hampshire. He also captains his fellow exiled players from Zimbabwe in the Red Lions team, which plays charity games in England.

On 25 April 2007, Streak resigned as Warwickshire captain, saying captaining the side was affecting his on field abilities. He was replaced as captain by Darren Maddy. At the end of the 2007 season he left Warwickshire citing family reasons.

At the bottom of the year of 2007, he joined the Ahmedabad Rockets in the Indian Cricket League. He played two seasons in the ICL along with appearing in the Hong Kong sixes.

In 2009, he cut his ties with ICL, and in that August was appointed as the bowling coach of Zimbabwean national team. He was also given the responsibility of working with the young Zimbabwean fast bowlers and for franchise cricket.

Controversies

Heath Streak claimed in an interview in The Observer that he was faced with moral challenges in captaining Zimbabwe. He said that he was asked to falsely tell white players that they were not talented enough and were to be replaced by black players.

Coaching career

In August 2009, was appointed as the bowling coach of Zimbabwean cricket national team. He was also given the responsibility of working with the young Zimbabwean fast bowlers and for franchise cricket.

Later it also appeared that Heath Streak is the most possible candidate for the head coach job of Zimbabwean national team when the contract of Walter Chwaguta ends. It is believed that Walter Chwaguta will be Streak's assistant coach.

In 2010 along with his former team-mate Grant Flower, he joint as supporting coach of Zimbabwe under former English cricketer Alan Butcher. Flower became batting coach and Streak was named as bowling coach.

In 2013, Streak contract was not renewed for financial reasons. Zimbabwe Cricket had offered Streak a consultancy role but they cannot guarantee him a set number of working days or specific pay which has forced him to stay out of the preparations for Bangladesh series. Finances permitting at his franchise in Bulawayo, the Matabeleland Tuskers, he remained coach there.

In May 2014, Streak was appointed Bangladesh's bowling coach until 2016.

External links

• http://www.cricinfo.com/zimbabwe/content/story/423665.html
• http://www.cricinfo.com/zimbabwe/content/story/421979.html
• Heath Streak at ESPNcricinfo