Heath Streak rubbishes racism allegations
Things aren’t going well with Zimbabwe Cricket at all. After sacking the entire coaching team along with Heath Streak and Lance Klusener due to the country’s failure to qualify for the World Cup, the chairman of ZC insinuated that Heath Streak might be a racist.
Speaking to Daily News, Tavengwa Mukuhlani questioned Streak’s decision of dropping Cephas Zhuwao in favour of Peter Moor and not informing the former about his decision beforehand.
"Streak was the coach and selector, he was entitled to change the team as he found fit but the question is: why did he change the team in the manner that he did?" Mukuhlani told Daily News.
"The white players knew PJ Moor was going to play [against UAE] but none of the black players knew about it. Cephas Zhuwao was only informed [that he wouldn't play] in the warm-up. Why didn't Streak inform the entire team?"
Meanwhile, the former Bangladesh bowling coach rubbished those claims as "clutching at straws" while also adding that "anyone close to me knows I'm the least racist person ever."
In his response, Heath Streak gave a long and rather convincing defence about his impartial ways by bringing up past examples of him selecting black players and exposing the flaw in Mukuhlani’s logic.
"I've been accused by the chairman of ZC of being a racist, I find this preposterous and laughable and even to respond to them for people who know me, is lowering my standards," Streak said while speaking in indigenous Zimbabwean language, Ndebele.
"But I just want to make a few things notable. Our selection panel consisted of myself, Tatenda Taibu and Douglas Hondo. They are always consulted, and we always reached consensus on our teams.
"Graeme Cremer was not a selector, but he gave advice, and we also spoke to other guys outside, including the franchise coaches at times, to give us some of their thoughts. The allegations that during the WCQ, I dropped black players for white players is also ludicrous. When I dropped people like Kyle Jarvis for Tendai Chisoro nothing was said, but when I dropped Cephas Zhwao for PJ Moor, then I'm a racist.
"Those who are around me and who know me and are most important to me as in the players can vouch for that [I'm not a racist]. Why do all these people that the chairman claims are accusing me of racism, why do they not come out in public and say that themselves? Let's see that. This is not about Heath Streak and Tatenda Taibu being fired, this is a bigger thing. If you look at the collective time all the coaches who were fired have put into playing for Zimbabwe and the time we've spent coaching, it amounts to decades.”
Streak then lamented ZC’s treatment of the coaching staff of the Zimbabwe cricket team. The ZC sacked the entire coaching staff with even physiotherapists and trainers not being spared, in what appeared like an overblown reaction to the team’s failure.
"I think the way we've been treated, the way we were fired, it just isn't right, and it's not ethical that you can treat people like that. I'm just really sad that five of eight Level 3 coaches have been fired like Zimbabwe Cricket. We have people like physiotherapists and trainers who have nothing to do with how the team performs. They are not technical staff, they are there to get people fit and on the park, and they can't be fired. I think that's ludicrous and just wrong."
ZC’s reaction was borne from the fact that Zimbabwe have never failed to appear at the World Cup since 1979. They made their first World Cup appearance in India’s World Cup-winning campaign in 1983 and were a consistent figure in the competition.
They will, however, miss the tournament next year after failing to overcome the qualifiers.
