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He had advanced colon and liver cancer, and is survived by his wife Nadine and four children

Firdose Moonda03-Sep-2023Heath Streak, the former Zimbabwe captain and arguably their greatest allrounder, has died at the age of 49. He had advanced colon and liver cancer and had been receiving specialist treatment at a Johannesburg hospital, travelling from his home in Bulawayo on a bi-weekly basis since May. He is survived by his wife, Nadine, and four children.”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.Streak was a major figure in the Zimbabwe team of the 1990s, when they enjoyed their most successful run in international cricket. He 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 2000 ODI runs, finishing with 2943.”This is a very sad day for Zimbabwe and a sad day for cricket as we, on the one hand, mourn the demise of a true great of our beautiful game and, on the other, celebrate the greatness of what Heath gave us: he played with passion, spirit and was nothing less than an inspirational figure who raised our flag high and touched lives within the sport and beyond,” Zimbabwe Cricket chair Tavengwa Mukuhlani said. “On behalf of the ZC board, management, players and staff, I would like to pass our heartfelt condolences to Heath’s loving wife, Nadine, his family, friends and the entire cricket fraternity on the loss of the icon.”The son of Denis, who played cricket for Rhodesia, Streak made his international debut as a 19-year-old in an abandoned match against South Africa in Bengaluru during the 1993 Hero Cup, a five-team tournament played in India. Coincidentally, one of the umpires in Streak’s debut game – Piloo Reporter – also died on September 3 in Mumbai at the age of 84.Streak also got his Test cap that year, against Pakistan in Karachi, and took eight wickets in the next match in Rawalpindi.Related

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Pakistan would become something of a favourite opponent. He took more Test wickets – 44 – against them than any other team, including three of his seven five-fors.He made his first Test fifty in his ninth Test, against South Africa, and it would be followed by 10 more. His only Test century came against West Indies, in Harare in 2003.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 became Zimbabwe captain in 2000, but it proved a tumultuous tenure.In 2001, he resigned for the first time, officially citing the impact of leadership on his performance. Behind the scenes, politics was rife in the country, and Streak was in the crosshairs.Heath Streak got his Test cap in 1993, against Pakistan in Karachi, and took eight wickets in the next match, in Rawalpindi•Stu Forster /Allsport

As part of Zimbabwe’s white, privileged minority, his family was targeted in the land-reform projects of the early 2000s, where white farmers’ lands were seized and redistributed. More than 70% of the Streaks’ farm in the Turk Mine area, 60 kilometres north of Bulawayo, was taken but they were left with enough to continue farming cattle and run a small safari park.In sporting terms, the increased political push to transform Zimbabwe’s previously elite sporting codes, such as cricket and rugby, into representative games meant the introduction of quota systems. And all the while, Zimbabwe’s economy suffered. Selection interference and payment issues were behind Streak’s first resignation as captain but he accepted the job again in 2002, and led them at the 2003 World Cup, where Zimbabwe were co-hosts.The difficulties never went away, though, and in 2004, Streak resigned as captain for the second time after a clash with the board, prompting the walkout of 13 other white players from the national side. That was a pivotal moment for Zimbabwe cricket and led to them rebuilding the national side with inexperienced players, which resulted in a sharp decline in results. Streak was the only one of the players who returned to the national side and made an international comeback the following year. He played six Tests and six ODIs (two for Africa XI against Asia XI in August 2005) before retiring from international cricket at the age of 32 in 2005.Streak went on to play for Warwickshire and had a short-lived stint as captain before leaving the club in 2007. He then signed up with Ahmedabad Rockets in the short-lived Indian Cricket League. From there, he returned to Zimbabwe and moved into coaching. He was appointed Zimbabwe’s bowling coach in 2009 and went on to work under Alan Butcher as Zimbabwe made their Test comeback after a six-year self-imposed exile in 2011. They enjoyed fairly regular game time over the next two years but in 2013, Streak’s contract was not renewed. He remained coach at his domestic union, Matabeleland Tuskers, and founded his own academy, the Heath Streak Academy, in Bulawayo in 2014.Heath Streak captained Zimbabwe at the 2003 ODI World Cup•Getty Images

He also found gigs as a bowling coach around the world and had stints with 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. At the 2018 World Cup qualifier held in Zimbabwe, the team lost a crucial match to the UAE and missed out on the World Cup. Streak and his entire coaching staff were sacked. He went on to have short stints with Scotland, Somerset and Kolkata Knight Riders.In 2021, he was banned for eight years after being charged with – and admitting to – five breaches of the ICC’s anti-corruption code, including accepting payment in bitcoins from a potential corruptor. However, he later said he was not involved in any attempts to fix matches, but admitted to disclosing inside information pertaining to international matches.As such, he was serving his ban at the time of his death. Streak would have been 57 at the time the ban ended and had expressed doubts on whether he would be able to return to having a role in the game. He was understood to be considering appealing the length of his ban before he took ill.His academy continues to run and was renamed the Zimbabwe Youth Academy when Streak had to resign last year. He spent his final months fishing and tending to the family farm.

The India captain however is proud of his team and wants to take all the learnings further into his career

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Feb-2024India’s captain Uday Saharan felt that a few rash shots by the batters, coupled with their inability to spend any significant length of time at the crease, were the main reasons behind the team falling short in the final of the Under-19 World Cup.”It was fine. We played a few shots and couldn’t spend some time on the surface,” Saharan said after India went down by 79 runs to hand Australia their fourth title. “We were prepared for it but we couldn’t execute well. That is where we went wrong.”Australia, after electing to bat, rode on Harjas Singh’s fifty and a useful cameo in the death by Oliver Peake to post 253 for 8 from their 50 overs. This was the highest total ever registered in the final of an U-19 World Cup, and India’s attempt at a record chase fell flat from the outset.Related

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They lost opener Arshin Kulkarni in the third over of the chase before Mahli Beardman cut a swathe through the middle order as India slipped to 68 for 4 in the 20th. Opener Adarsh Singh (47) and lower-order batter Murugan Abhishek (42) showed fight but the Australians never let the Indians get back in the chase.India came into the final with an unblemished record in the tournament and despite the result, Saharan said that he was extremely proud of how his team went about all through.”It was great, I am very proud of the boys, they played very well. The entire team, from the start to the end showed fighting spirit. They played very well and I am proud of them,” Saharan said.Saharan, the highest run-scorer in the tournament with 397 runs in seven games at 56.71 said that he has learnt a lot throughout the tournament and just wants to take these learnings as he moves forward in his career.”There have been a lot of learnings, right from the start to now,” he said. “I have learnt a lot from the staff and even during the match, have learnt so much. I just want to take all the learnings from this tournament and move forward in my career.”

The pair combined for a brisk 140-run sixth-wicket partnership to inch Australia closer to victory

Tristan Lavalette11-Mar-2024Alex Carey produced a brilliant knock under pressure to crush New Zealand’s bid for a famous victory as Australia ran down a tough 279 runs in a nerve-jangling chase at Hagley Oval.Australia’s bid to win the second Test and seal the series 2-0 appeared in major trouble at 80 for 5 after the early wicket of Travis Head on day four. But Carey and Mitchell Marsh, who made 80 after being dropped on 28, combined for a brisk 140-run sixth-wicket partnership to inch Australia within 59 runs.Debutant Ben Sears, bowling in the mid-140 kph, flipped the match on its head with the wickets of Marsh and Mitchell Starc on consecutive deliveries to revive New Zealand’s hopes. Carey, however, was unperturbed and finished Australia’s hero with an unbeaten 98.He found calm support through Pat Cummins, who again helped Australia over the line much like he memorably did at Edgbaston in last year’s Ashes. Cummins made 32 and hit the winning boundary at an increasingly gloomy Hagley Oval as the batters embraced mid-pitch.Australia had only run down 279 or more in the fourth innings on 13 previous occasions and only twice since 2006. Only three teams in Test history had scored more runs after the fall of the fifth wicket in a successful fourth-innings chase.The victory capped a hectic period of Test cricket for Australia, who have played 22 Tests in the last 15 months. But they will have a long breather from the format with their next assignment not until next summer against India in a five-Test blockbuster.It was a satisfying triumph for Australia, who before this had only one won series away from home since their last Test tour of New Zealand in 2016.But New Zealand were left bitterly disappointed as their misery against Australia continued having only beaten them once in the past three decades. With their next series against Australia not due until 2026-27, several senior players in the team might never again have a chance to beat their neighbours.After a stirring fightback ever since being bowled out for 162 in their first innings, New Zealand had been in the box seat heading into the fourth day’s play, which was delayed by an hour due to rain.Resuming at 77 for 4 and needing a further 202 runs, Australia’s hopes seemingly rested with Marsh and Head who had combined for 43 runs late on day three after a top-order collapse.In overcast conditions, Marsh went for broke off Tim Southee’s first ball when he hit a bullet to backward point only for Rachin Ravindra to drop a chance.But New Zealand’s agony was short-lived when on the next delivery Head replicated Marsh’s full-blooded stroke and Will Young made no mistake at point. It completed a tough season for Head, who scored just 150 runs in 11 Test innings outside of his match-winning century against West Indies in Adelaide.With Josh Inglis breathing down his neck, Carey’s place in the team had been in the spotlight having only made two half-centuries in his previous 18 innings. Buoyed by a record-equalling 10 dismissals by an Australian wicketkeeper, Carey looked solid as he quickly moved to 19 until he was given out lbw after being trapped on the knee roll by Matt Henry bowling from around the wicket.But Carey was saved by the DRS with ball tracking deeming the ball to be sliding down the leg side. He calmly resumed his innings and kept the runs trickling along, but did have an anxious moment on 37 when Scott Kuggeleijn loudly appealed for caught behind. New Zealand unsuccessfully reviewed as their nerves heightened.Entering the innings on the back of consecutive ducks, Marsh rediscovered his form from the Australian summer as he and Carey notched their half-centuries and Australia reached lunch needing a further 105 runs.A single from Marsh after the interval notched the pair’s century partnership and reduced Australia’s deficit to under a hundred, with batting becoming easier against the older ball. New Zealand’s fading hopes seemingly rested with Henry, who was also seeking a 10-wicket haul, but Marsh continued to counterattack and whacked his bouncer for six.Southee desperately turned to Sears and it proved a masterstroke as he trapped Marsh lbw after hitting him in front of middle and leg. Marsh reviewed in the hope that the ball was sliding down the leg side, but it was upheld in an umpire’s call to spark New Zealand.It was bedlam at a near-capacity Hagley Oval when on his next delivery Sears had Starc hitting straight to square leg. Sears almost completed his hat-trick when Cummins nervously edged in front of second slip.But Sears was then thwarted by inventive batting from Carey and an unruffled Cummins, who continued his knack for ice-cool batting in run chases. Both batters endured some anxious moments as Southee reverted to Henry for one last push but it was in vain. Carey fell short of a deserved century as Cummins sealed victory with a punch through point and he let out a roar in celebration.

“If he’s available, he will be selected,” McCullum says amid concerns around Moeen’s spinning finger

Matt Roller21-Jun-2023England hope that a week’s gap between the first and second Ashes Tests will enable their bowling attack time to recover ahead of back-to-back fixtures at Lord’s and Headingley, following a heavy workload at Edgbaston this week.The second men’s Test starts on June 28 at Lord’s and England are only expected to train twice before then, giving their bowlers time to recharge after spending 208.4 overs in the field during their two-wicket defeat to Australia in Birmingham.”Seven days is actually quite a long time to give everyone a good rest,” Ben Stokes, England’s captain, said. “We’ll meet up again in three or four days’ time I think, and we’ll assess how everyone’s going and we’ll have to make a decision from there.”There is particular concern around Moeen Ali’s spinning finger, which he cut open on the second day of the first Test on his return to red-ball cricket following a 21-month absence. Moeen was clearly struggling to grip the ball and only bowled seven overs on the final day – precisely the moment when Stokes would have hoped to lean heavily on his primary spinner.”I told Mo to tell me if his finger was sore, and I’d sensed that it was even before that,” Stokes said. “For him to come back into his first Test match and operate in the way that he did and really put himself through the pain barrier for the team [was great].”You could see what it meant to him going out to play for England again with a huge smile on his face. I selected him for his match-winning moments. He had a few of them with the ball and nearly got us over the line… [The break] gives Mo a good chance for his finger to heal up.”Related

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England are yet to decide if they will call up another spinner as cover for Moeen, but were expected to discuss the possibility on Wednesday. Rehan Ahmed, Liam Dawson and Will Jacks are among the front-runners if they decide to do so. They may also consider fielding a four-man seam attack at Lord’s, not least after Joe Root’s tidy returns with his offbreaks across the first Test – though Brendon McCullum said that Moeen would play if available.”I thought Mo did a great job,” McCullum said. “He bowled a couple of absolute jaffas in the game and that was what his role was, to try and make breakthroughs when he had the opportunity with the ball, and with the bat, to try to disrupt it a little bit. I thought he did that pretty well too.”We’ll monitor Mo’s finger over the next few days and hopefully he’ll come right for the next one. You have planning for everyone… but I’m pretty confident that over the next few days, we can get on top of Mo’s finger and that’ll give us an opportunity to select him in the next game. If he’s available, he will be selected.”Stokes marked Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson out for putting in “incredible” shifts on the last evening but James Anderson, for so long the leader of England’s attack, had an off-game. He returned match figures of 1 for 109 and was overlooked when England took the second new ball in the final stages of the Test.Speaking before play started on Tuesday, Anderson admitted to Sky Sports that he was “still searching for a bit of rhythm” on his return from a groin niggle that kept him out for over a month, including England’s 10-wicket win over Ireland.James Anderson chats with Ben Stokes•PA Photos/Getty Images

“It’s been difficult,” Anderson added. “I feel like I do need a bit of game time to get back into it and it has been five-six weeks since I last played. I feel like I’ve bowled OK but I definitely feel like there’s more there.”Mark Wood, overlooked for the first Test, will come into contention at Lord’s.Stokes himself bowled seven overs in each innings and took two vital wickets, trapping Steven Smith lbw in the first innings and inducing a chop-on from Usman Khawaja in the second with a leg cutter. He hardly celebrated Khawaja’s dismissal – “I was absolutely flying on caffeine,” he explained – but said he saw his bowling workload as “a massive boost”.”I’ve put my body through more than it’s actually been through over the last year, which is obviously great signs for myself and another confidence boost for me,” Stokes said. “Getting through that, knowing we’ve still got four games coming up has given me a massive boost.”I can’t remember the last time I’ve sort of been able to continually bowl. I was just really happy that I was able to get a good long spell in, and I just love being in that situation. I love bowling long spells, especially when the game’s on the line.”

Pakistan captain also pointed out that second new ball “as well as the way we didn’t manage to hold our nerve with the ball cost us”

Danyal Rasool25-Aug-20243:24

Masood: ‘Bangladesh’s discipline was commendable’

A first loss against Bangladesh left Pakistan with a lot to rue, and captain Shan Masood admitted his side had made “a lot of mistakes” over the Test. After four fairly attritional days where just 17 wickets fell, Bangladesh, spearheaded by spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, rolled Pakistan over for 146, setting up a 30-run target and sealing a dramatic ten-wicket victory on the final day.”As a team, we made a lot of mistakes over the four days and Bangladesh were worthy winners,” Masood said. “They were very disciplined in their batting. We gave them a few chances as well when Mehidy and Mushfiqur [Rahim] were playing. As a bowling unit where we lost the game was the second new ball. That’s where we could have imposed ourselves on the game and let ourselves down.”It was that passage of play that assistant coach Azhar Mahmood also referenced after the third day. At the 82-over mark, Bangladesh had scored 239 having lost half their side, but in the final ten overs of the day, when Pakistan took the new ball, they pounced on some errant bowling, totting up 67 runs in that passage of play to swing momentum their way.Related

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• A defeat after declaring, and Bangladesh's first Test win over Pakistan

As the pitch continued to flatten out over the third and fourth day, Bangladesh reached, and then surpassed, Pakistan’s first innings total. The home side had called Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi in when they were 448 for 6, allowing Bangladesh, who batted to the last man, to take a 117-run lead. It became just the third time in Test history a side declared a first innings with six or fewer wickets down and went on to lose the game.”If you asked me now, we would have liked another 50-100 runs,” Masood said. “That would have kept us in the game. The forecast also indicated the weather would be disruptive during the game. Those were our thoughts behind the declaration as well. We only lost six wickets in the first innings. We could have easily scored 550-600 if we’d carried on batting. But we also let ourselves down with the bat today.”Masood, too, maintained the united front Pakistan have put out with respect to an all-pace attack. Despite the absence of a specialist spinner being an anomaly with respect to Pakistan’s historic squad selection – only once in the past 28 years have they played an all-pace attack at home – Masood pointed to workload and the nature of the surface they expected.”I don’t want to be commenting on day five because we didn’t expect the game to hold up for four or five days,” Masood said. “When you play three fast bowlers in this weather that’s a lot of workload on the fast bowlers. If you play a spinner, the spinner’s probably bowling 30 overs.” He did, however, appear to contradict himself, acknowledging later that Pakistan’s belief there would be disruptive weather over the game may have prompted them to hasten their declaration. At the same time, Pakistan’s part-time spinners sent down 50 overs in Bangladesh’s first innings, workload that a specialist spinner may well have been able to pick up to a similar extent.Pakistan’s fast bowlers bowled 117.3 overs in the first Test•AFP/Getty Images

“The fast bowler was played looking at the extreme weather conditions where we could help each other share the load. Naseem and Shaheen hadn’t played Test cricket for a while and Pakistan haven’t played Test cricket for ten months. If we played three fast bowlers and lost one through injury, we could have been like ‘why didn’t we play that fourth fast bowler?'”The all-pace attack, and the belief it would prove the quickest route to 20 wickets, though, did not pan out. Pakistan’s quicks ended up bowling 117.3 overs, the second-highest collective total for a Pakistan fast bowling unit in the last two decades. Masood did bemoan the injury to Aamer Jamal, whose all-round ability may have freed up an extra position for a spin bowler. “Hindsight,” as Masood said, “is always 20/20; you can always fit the spinner in, but you have to look at the full balance of the side. You need seven people that can bat properly and four frontline bowlers with a little help here or there.”He accepted Bangladesh’s spinners were useful on the final day, though he believed his side should never have let the game come to that. “Even their spinners were only useful on the fifth day,” he said. “We had many opportunities as a side with bat and ball to take spin out of the game as a factor. We had time to apply pressure on them when we had a 200-run lead, and half their side was out. If you look at the way we bowled the third new ball, we got their last four out very quickly because we utilised that well. That second new ball, as well as the way we didn’t manage to hold our nerve with the ball cost us.”As Masood pointed out, Pakistan never took two wickets in quick succession to place real pressure on Bangladesh, and their first innings straddled three days and three new balls before Pakistan finally prised them out. He pointed to key passages of play within the innings that made a difference, while heaping praise on Bangladesh’s discipline.”At the end of the day, it was how the first two innings went that decided it all. I thought there were plenty of opportunities we could have taken, and then we could have had a little bit of a lead and we could have been the side putting pressure on Bangladesh instead of the other way round. We were slightly unlucky in certain aspects, too. Some of our players inside-edged the ball onto the stumps, while a lot of Bangladesh’s inside edges ran away for four. Those are the sort of margins you can’t control.”On the first four days, we were the ones that were very proactive, we were trying to take decisions, we declared quite early, we scored at a quicker rate. Those things don’t count at the end of the day when you lose the game. But their discipline was commendable, and you have to give credit to them. Every team plays their own way. That doesn’t mean either is wrong or right, you have to find one that brings you results and be consistent with it. Everyone has their own way of playing and Bangladesh certainly brought their own A game, and we found it hard to deal with.”Masood has been around Pakistan cricket to understand the damage this defeat will cause to this Test side. “We’re all upset. The whole nation is upset. As a leader of this team, we apologise to the nation for failing to give people the result they wanted. We accept our mistakes as a team.”There is no sign any panic buttons will be hit, though. Masood appeared comfortable with the decision to field an all-pace attack, while he left the door open for the return of Abrar Ahmed for the second Test, saying it would depend on the pitch and weather conditions.”Even if you lose, it doesn’t mean you’ve done everything wrong,” he said. “On the first four days, we were the ones that were very proactive, we were trying to take decisions, we declared quite early, we scored at a quicker rate, at around four runs an over.”But, as he noted dryly, “those things don’t count at the end of the day when you lose the game.”

The quick was spotted with some protection on his knee but nearly hit full tilt towards the end of his training session

Rajan Raj19-Jan-20251:34

Shami will have to be ‘up and kicking from ball one’ – Manjrekar

Mohammed Shami’s bowling was the focus of India’s first training session in Kolkata ahead of their T20I series against England that gets underway on January 22.Shami, who has not played international cricket since the 2023 ODI World Cup final, bowled for over an hour with his knee strapped, with bowling coach Morne Morkel keeping a close eye on his progress. Shami had not been considered for any part of the Border-Gavaskar Test series, despite having fully recovered from his ankle surgery, because of swelling on his knee.On Sunday, Shami began by marking a spot on a good-length area on the practice pitches, and then warmed up by bowling with a half run-up for more than 20 minutes. Later, he bowled with his full run-up to openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma in the nets. In between, he practiced short- and long-range catching with fielding coach T Dilip and head coach Gautam Gambhir. After the net sessions ended, Shami closed the evening out with a ten-minute spell of bowling on the practice pitches. By the time his session wound down, Shami was bowling at nearly full tilt.