'I asked pointed questions to verify, was truly devastated': Olonga's emotional apology on Heath Streak's death rumour

Olonga took to his official Facebook account to publicly apologize for tweeting the rumor regarding Heath Streak's apparent demise.

Earlier this week, the news of Heath Streak's apparent passing due to a cancer-related ailment spread rapidly across social media. Former Zimbabwe cricketer Henry Olonga used his official Twitter profile to share the tragic news. However, within a few hours of his tweet, Olonga posted a screenshot of his conversation with Heath Streak, confirming that the former Zimbabwe captain was alive and in good health. Streak himself condemned the false news and called for a public apology from the initial source of the rumor, highlighting the impact such misinformation can have.

The rumour circulated about Heath Streak's death earlier this week (AFP)

On Saturday, Olonga took to his official Facebook account to address his initial tweet and issue a public apology for spreading the unfounded rumor about Heath Streak's death. He also provided details about the sequence of events that led him to share the false information.

“When news came to me that Heath was unwell earlier this year I made a concerted effort to reconnect after life had us all immersed in our own worlds. Heath has kept me up to date with all that is going on with treatment etc and we have had good contact throughout. The same with Nadine (Streak). They are the closest friends I have from the world of Zimbabwe cricket. Most others I have less interaction with,” Olonga wrote in his statement on Facebook.

“In any case I was informed that Heath had taken a turn for the worse. We were encouraged to write kind words for his eulogy. So it appeared imminent. I will not go into too much detail how the mis-communication occurred but rest assured I heard the story first on Facebook like everyone else.”

Olonga further revealed that he tried to verify the news to great extents, and eventually apologised the fans for the rumour.

"I did immediately text Heath and Nadine to verify. It was a while before they could respond as it was late at night. I texted a few close cricket colleagues who know the family well and they confirmed it was true. I did ask pointed questions to verify but they were convinced. After all I had only heard from Heath the day before so it seemed kind of sudden. But I truly was devastated as I genuinely believed he was gone. And all the emotion I felt I am sure those who encountered the story felt it too.

"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 back track 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.”

Heath Streak's career

The former Zimbabwe captain represented the country in 65 Tests and 189 ODIs. He still continues to be Zimbabwe's all-time highest wicket-taker in both Tests and ODIs. The former right-arm pacer has 216 wickets in Tests and 239 in ODIs. Streak is the first Zimbabwe cricketer to claim 100 wickets in both Tests and ODIs. He is also the only Zimbabwe cricketer to complete the double of 100 Test wickets and 1000 Test runs and the only one from the country to score 2000 runs and claim 200 wickets in ODIs.