‘I am extremely sorry that I took it as gospel’ – Henry Olonga issues public apology after Heath Streak’s death’s false news

Former Zimbabwe cricketer Henry Olonga has published a public apology for announcing Heath Streak’s death earlier in the week. He also apologized to his former teammate and his family regarding the same.

A few days ago, Olonga took to social media and posted that Streak who has been battling colon and liver cancer since May 2023 had passed away. Notably, with news spreading thick and fast, Streak himself invalidated the rumors of his death and also expressed his distress over the misinformation spreading on social media, stating that he was ‘very upset and hurt’. However, Olonga later clarified that Streak is alive, sharing a screenshot of the chat between them. However, the news had gone viral by that time.

Meanwhile, Olonga on Saturday (August 26) took to his Facebook account and shared a long apology note, stating he is extremely sorry over the deceitful news. The former fast bowler opened up about his relationship with Streak, stating the former Zimbabwe captain has been his friend for almost 39 years since 1984 as they have studied in the same school. He also stated that he has been keeping track of his former teammate’s health condition.

The 47-year-old apologized to everyone for taking the aforementioned incident as gospel. 

“Obviously I am extremely sorry that I took it as gospel. I then placed my own tributes which seemed to gather a lot of traction ( amongst many tributes out there ) only to get a text from Heath a few hours later in which he asked me to reverse the decision. ( He has always had a great sense of humour ). I then had to backtrack and attempt to fix the error that unfortunately had gone global. But how can it get fixed easily in this day and age? So I retracted as best I could.

I of course profusely apologised to the Streaks after the clanger. They did not need this. In any case, I hope you understand the context now and again appreciate your forgiveness for my part in this unfortunate affair,” Olonga wrote.

Heath Streak is regarded as one of the finest all-rounders Zimbabwe has ever produced. The 49-year-old, who represented the country from 1993 to 2005, has taken 216 wickets in Tests and 239 scalps in the 50-over format. He has served as coach of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh national teams as well as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and now-defunct Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League.