Full Name: Heath Hilton Streak
Born: 16 March 1974, Bulawayo
Major teams: Zimbabwe (since 1993/94), Matabeleland (since
1993/94), Hampshire (1995). Present club team: Queens Sports
Club
Known as: Heath Streak. Nicknames: Streaky, Bacon, Beefy
Batting Style: Right Hand Bat
Bowling Style: Right Arm Fast Medium
Occupation: Professional Cricketer
First-class debut: Zimbabwe B v Kent, at Old Hararians Sports
Club (Harare), 30 March 1993
Test Debut: First Test v Pakistan, at Karachi, 1993/94
ODI Debut: 10 November 1993, v South Africa, at Bangalore (Hero
Cup)
Biography (updated September 1999)
Wisden Cricket Monthly publish a monthly `World Rankings' page,
showing the records of the world's leading Test cricketers over
the previous two years. At the start of the England tour of
1996/97, Heath Streak was at the top of this list, having taken
53 wickets at a remarkable average of less than 20. The Cooper
and Lybrand ratings have put him in various positions between
third and ninth. Although his results in the Tests against
England and New Zealand, played when he was not fully fit, caused
him to lose some ground, these figures were no mistake. Heath
Streak is a truly world-class bowler.
Heath is one of the numerous Zimbabwe Test players to attend
Falcon College, near Esigodeni in Matabeleland. Before then he
attended the Rhodes Estate Preparatory School, known as Reps,
where he scored two centuries, among numerous other good
performances. He has always been an all-rounder, fully able to
contribute with the bat and one of the best fielders in the world
today, although in the wake of his bowling triumphs this is often
overlooked. He comes from a long line of cricketing Streaks who
have been playing in Bulawayo since the First World War. His
father Denis, frequently a Zimbabwe tour manager, played a number
of matches for the national side between 1976 and 1985, and has
been a major encouragement in Heath's cricketing career,
constantly emphasising to him the essential place of hard work
and dedication in reaching the top. Brought up on a ranch at
Turk Mine, near Nyati, north of Bulawayo, he was weaned on the
outdoor life and particularly enjoys hunting; in fact, before the
Zimbabwe Cricket Union signed him up as a professional cricketer,
he had a learner hunter's licence.
At Falcon College Heath's achievements meant that he was
frequently playing above his age group, primarily as a strike
bowler, and consequently he was forced to bat low in the order.
This limited his opportunities with the bat but did not snuff out
his talent; in fact, in one season he finished with a batting
average of almost 300, having been dismissed only once! The
beautiful fast, lively pitch at Falcon enabled him to make the
most of his pace bowling. He soon achieved representative
honours, being selected for each national age-group team from
junior school onwards. He went on an Under-17 tour to England,
taking wickets throughout, and scored 84 in a three-day `Test'.
Unfortunately he finished the tour with sciatica in his back. He
also toured South Africa with the Under-17 team, which beat both
England and India, the national schools tour of Australia, and
the Under-19 tournament in Denmark, where he took four wickets in
the victory over England in the final.
He was now playing club cricket in Bulawayo, and also in the
Matabeleland Winter Cricket league. It was in a match between
Nyati and Hwange that he recorded his highest score to date in
any class of cricket, 184.
When Zimbabwe entered Test cricket, the country was desperately
short of quality pace bowlers and Heath soon attracted attention.
In 1992/93 he played in three matches for the Zimbabwe Under-24
team, taking a few useful wickets but without hitting the
headlines. His most notable performance was an innings of 62
against Border. He made a quiet debut for Zimbabwe B against the
Kent touring team at the end of the season, and then toured
England, fairly uneventfully, with the national team. It was
therefore mostly on potential and good club performances that he
was thrown in at the deep end, selected for the Hero Cup in India
and the tour of Pakistan in 1993/94.
On his Test debut he took no wickets, but battled manfully for
more than two hours to score 19 not out, in a desperate and
unavailing bid to save Zimbabwe from defeat. Then, in the Second
Test at Rawalpindi, he bowled superbly, taking five wickets for
56, then the best bowling figures by a Zimbabwean in an innings,
and eight wickets in the match. Since then he has rarely looked
back. He found it a particular thrill to bowl out Javed Miandad
twice in the match. He pays tribute to the help given him by John
Hampshire, the Zimbabwe coach at that time, in developing his
bowling.
Greatness was thrust upon him when the Sri Lankans toured
Zimbabwe in 1994/95. With Eddo Brandes and David Brain both
injured, the mantle of Zimbabwean spearhead fell unexpectedly on
Heath's broad shoulders. He handled the role superbly, taking 13
of the 37 Sri Lankan wickets to fall during the series. During
the limited-overs matches, the Zimbabwean bowling would have
fallen apart at the seams, had it not been for Heath, the one
superb bowler in a rather mediocre attack.
He developed further in Australia when Zimbabwe went there for
the World Series Cup, to the extent that he was head and
shoulders above the rest of the bowlers when Pakistan visited
later in the season. His 22 wickets in the series, at an average
of 13.54, took his Test total to 43; he was voted joint Player of
the Series with Inzamam-ul-Haq; he appeared at least the equal of
Wasim Akram; and his nine wickets were vital to Zimbabwe's Test
victory. This, Heath feels, was the best bowling performance of
his career, as well as the most satisfying.
With such an outstanding bowler in the side, the temptation is
always there to use him for too long, in the role of stock rather
than shock bowler, but Heath stood up well to almost 40 overs per
Test. In the Third Test against Pakistan, though, he had to
overcome the pain barrier as he successfully bowled out Pakistan
to leave Zimbabwe a reachable target -- only for the side's
batsmen to waste it. But Heath fought better than most of his
team-mates; he hit a defiant unbeaten 30, competing to the very
end.
All this took place before his 21st birthday. He was the first
bowler outside the Indian subcontinent to take more than 40 Test
wickets before reaching the age of 21. Ahead of him were Kapil
Dev with 87, then Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis with 63 and 62
respectively -- if we accept their dates of birth as genuine.
After his success against Pakistan, Heath accepted a one-year
contract to play county cricket for Hampshire, replacing Winston
Benjamin, who was touring with the West Indians. He enjoyed the
invaluable experience, although it was hard work and he has no
plans to return, unless a one-year contract was offered, for fear
of burning himself out. The fact that Hampshire's three other
main bowlers were all injured at times during the season added to
the pressure; he was unable to take a break even for matches
against the tourists. Niggling injuries later in the season
probably resulted from this.
His results were, on the face of it, unspectacular, with no
five-wicket hauls and only one fifty, a 69 against the Young
Australians. He found the pitches very flat, especially at the
county headquarters Southampton, and had about fifteen catches
dropped off his bowling in the last few matches. The county were
very pleased with his attitude, though, and Heath got on very
well with Mark Nicholas, the captain, who had become a family
friend.
Heath's fine Test form continued throughout 1995/96, and he also
achieved his best first-class figures of seven for 69 against
Mashonaland Country Districts in the Logan Cup. One of his most
notable performances was actually a superb aggressive fighting
fifty against South Africa, rescuing the Zimbabwean first innings
from complete humiliation at the hands of their southern
neighbours. He had a disappointing time in the World Cup of
1995/96 in the Indian subcontinent, apart from taking three
wickets against Sri Lanka, ironically the only match in which the
batsmen really got hold of his bowling. He did generally bowl
well, though, but as he was so far ahead of his team-mates in
quality the opposition tended to follow the policy of seeing him
off and taking advantage of the other bowlers.
Unfortunately he suffered a serious groin injury on the tour of
Sri Lanka at the start of the 1996/97 season, which led to his
returning home early and also missing the tour of Pakistan.
Since then, he has not fully regained his best form. He bowled
some good spells against England, though again was probably
overbowled at times; he could also be uncharacteristically
inaccurate. He seemed to be fit physically, but there was a
feeling that he was still not quite confident psychologically.
He himself admits that 1996/97 was a difficult season for him to
find his best form, due to niggling injuries. It was a
particular blow to miss the tour to Pakistan, but he was feeling
happier by the end of the season when Zimbabwe visited Sharjah.
He feels he generally bowled well against England, and
particularly enjoyed the excellent support of Eddo Brandes at the
other end.
During the off-season, he again spent time entertaining the
hunting clientele, with bird-shooting being his main pastime. He
also spent much time in training, but unfortunately this led to
an injury in the other groin, so he started the new season
against New Zealand again less than fully fit. This was ironic
as he had spent so much time strengthening the groin which had
troubled him before. During the Second Test he also strained his
side; it was thought at first that this was only a minor injury,
but in the event it kept him out of the one-day internationals.
He was also rested from the tour to Kenya in an effort to help
him regain full fitness.
He was fit again in time for the tour of Sri Lanka, which was a
good one for him personally, although there was the particular
frustration of seeing victory snatched from Zimbabwe's grasp in
the Second Test by a series of umpiring errors. He did not find
the conditions easy for seam bowlers, especially in the one-day
internationals, where the pitches were quite lifeless. He also
did not receive much quality support from Zimbabwe's other pace
bowlers. He did, however, generally establish the mastery over
the attacking opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya, dismissing him
in all four Test innings, three times for less than 10, but could
not carry this mastery over into the one-day internationals.
Heath says that the way Jayasuriya bats he always gives chances
and he is not used to controlled swing bowling; he often fancies
getting him out playing on, or through lbw decisions or snicks
behind the wicket.
Heath's fighting spirit came out in the First Test, when Sri
Lanka came in for their second innings needing just 10 runs to
win. In a superb over Heath dismissed both Jayasuriya and
Mahanama without scoring, to reduce the margin of defeat to eight
wickets. Then in the Second Test, with Sri Lanka left 326 to
win, he took four of the five wickets to fall before de Silva and
Ranatunga, aided by the umpires, took Sri Lanka to an undeserved
victory. Heath was robbed of wickets on several further
occasions, lbw or caught off snicks, and became so frustrated
that he actually had strong words with the umpire responsible, an
act completely out of character for one who never indulges in any
kind of abuse on the field.
The New Zealand tour that followed was a difficult one for both
him and the team. The events of Sri Lanka had left their
confidence and morale low, and his bowling was not at its best.
He felt rather better on his return to Zimbabwe to play Pakistan;
he always enjoys bowling at home, and especially at Harare Sports
Club. He also batted well in both Tests, scoring a valuable
fifty in the First in partnership with Grant Flower, who went on
to carry his bat. Then followed a triangular series in India,
also including Australia, played on batsmen's pitches. Heath
emerged the only bowler in the team to return presentable
figures.
Despite his continued fitness, Andy Flower for one did not feel
he was even close to his peak form, and Heath chose to spend the
off season on the ranch, working on the bowling basics. He
produced some good bowling in the Commonwealth Games of 1998 in
Kuala Lumpur; this was followed by the visit of India. With
Brandes ill, Heath had to bear the burden of the attack alone in
the first two one-day internationals, and did not bowl
particularly well. Aware that all depended on him, he tried too
hard. The return of Brandes for the third match gave him the
inspiration to bowl at his best in tandem with Eddo. They bowled
with real purpose and Zimbabwe snatched back a victory. Heath
admitted he found it easier to bowl with support from others,
when he did not feel the need to bowl 'big balls' all the time.
Then in the Test match he found Henry Olonga at the peak of his
form. Well though he bowled, he was overshadowed by Olonga and
had the rare experience of being a support bowler as India
plunged to defeat. In particular Streak and Olonga firing
together in the second innings made an awesome sight, which
proved too much for India.
Next came the Mini World Cup in Dhaka, where he did not do
particularly well as Zimbabwe were knocked out by New Zealand.
This was followed by another triangular series in Sharjah,
against India and Sri Lanka. He did not find the pitches
suitable for his type of bowling and generally went on as first
change, after Brandes and Neil Johnson. He took only two wickets
in his four matches, but found the pitches during the tour of
Pakistan which followed much more suitable; he took seven wickets
in the three one-day matches there.
He was to play a major part, again in partnership with Olonga, in
the First Test against Pakistan. In the first innings, on a
helpful pitch, he again bore the brunt of the bowling, with four
wickets, including his hundredth in Test cricket when he had
Azhar Mahmood caught at the wicket. He was the first Zimbabwean
to reach this total, by a long way. He also played another
important innings, scoring 24 in a century partnership with
Johnson at a critical stage of the innings. In the second
innings he and Olonga again formed a lethal partnership as they
tore into the Pakistan batting and brought eventual victory to
Zimbabwe.
There was not much cricket in the New Year of 1999 until a
triangular tournament in Bangladesh, with Kenya also included.
As his knee tendon was still giving him some trouble, he was
rested against Bangladesh and used sparingly against Kenya. Then
came the World Cup, and considerable embarrassment early on, as
he found it very difficult to control the white ball and was
frequently called for wides by over-zealous umpires as the ball
swung far too much. He never completely mastered it, but turned
in reasonable returns nevertheless, with valuable three-wicket
hauls against India and South Africa, Zimbabwe's two victories
against Test-playing nations. He also chipped in with a number
of small but valuable innings.
This has been the story of Heath Streak's one-day career, and to
an extent his recent Test career as well. He does not return
startling analyses, as the opposing batsmen tend to play him with
great care and he is not quite again the force he used to be.
His batting has still not produced the big scores expected of
him, with his upright, commanding stance and sound technique.
Part of this is that he appears much less comfortable against
real pace at international level. But improvement should come,
and he still has the potential to be a genuine all-rounder.
Still in his mid-twenties, Heath has plenty of time on his side.
All things being equal, he should spearhead Zimbabwe's attack for
another decade. He can look forward to much greater support in
the future than in the past, with the emergence of Olonga and the
potential of several other promising pace bowlers. His batting
too should continue to develop, with some Test centuries to add
to the three first-class hundreds he has already scored.
His fielding should not be ignored, and he very much enjoys his
time in the field. Despite his size and build, he is one of the
best fielders in the world, specialising in the covers. He has a
very powerful and accurate throw, and realises that, with his
size, he needs to work regularly on his suppleness.
Heath names his 6/90 in Zimbabwe's Test victory over Pakistan and
the one-day series victory over England as the highlights of his
career to date. He regrets neglecting his batting in the past,
but realises the need to concentrate on bowling early in his
career; he aims to work more on his batting in the future and
hopes eventually to bat at number six for Zimbabwe. This is
certainly within his capabilities. The best batsmen he has bowled
to he names as Inzamam-ul-Haq, so strong off both front and back
foot, Steve and Mark Waugh, and Brian Lara. The bowlers to give
him most difficulty are Waqar Younis, with his late swing, and
Shane Warne. Now a senior player in Matabeleland and captain of
the province in 1997/98, he is ambitious to develop cricket
further in the province. He would like to see a bigger
provincial one-day set-up and better marketing of the game. He
recognises the need for youngsters to see the leading players in
action to stimulate their interest in the game.