Heath Streak, the former Zimbabwe captain and coach Heath Streak who received an eight-year ban from the ICC for breaching the anti-corruption code, has “apologised” and taken “full responsibility” for his actions. He said that he was not involved in any attempts to fix matches.
Heath Streak admitted that he disclosed inside information pertaining to international matches involving a 2018 Zimbabwe-Bangladesh-Sri Lanka tri-series, a Zimbabwe-Afghanistan series in 2018, the 2018 IPL, and the 2018 Afghanistan Premier League.
I didn’t fix matches – Heath Streak
Heath Streak claims he did not influence any matches directly. He said that he should have been more cautious with his actions. The former Zimbabwe captain said that he hopes his punishment served as a caution for others to not get involved in such activities.
“I also want to place on record to the public and fans that I was not involved in any match-fixing, spot-fixing or attempts to influence a game or share information from a changeroom during a match at any given time in our relationship. This position has been confirmed by the ICC itself in its own statement,” Streak’s statement read.
He confirmed aspects of the ICC’s verdict about establishing a T20 league in Zimbabwe but did not admit to knowing the person he was dealing with. The person he dealt with is understood to be Deepak Agarwal. Agarwal is supposed to be involved in betting.
“In 2017, I met an individual keen to invest in cricket in Africa and in particular they wanted to sponsor a T20 Tournament in Zimbabwe, which would be called the Safari Blast. The individual was subsequently vetted and cleared through the usual protocols and to be honest I let my guard down as the friendship and potential business partnership blossomed. The nature of our relationship was fraternal and cordial at all times. I genuinely believed it was a safe space. I also hoped the relationship would be beneficial not only to myself and to the Academy but to Zimbabwean cricket and I pursued its growth with vigour.
“At the onset I was engaged, and paid the Bitcoin, to assist in buying and building teams in different regional T20 competitions, which was successful, resulting in the purchase of a team in Dubai for this individual. Much later on in our friendship the only other thing I received was a bottle of whisky and my wife was gifted a phone. Several months down the line the ICC then brought to my attention the fact that the individual with whom I had been dealing, and some of the information that I had shared during our friendship/interaction may have been used for online betting.”
Streak’s matter with the ICC is closed, he will continue to work on the anti-corruption education program “so that the next generation of players and administrators can see the potential dangers and pitfalls as well as understand the serious ramifications of their actions.”