Health Streak has been banned for eight years after being charged with various breaches. Streak has been under probe for many games between 2017 and 2018 – during his stint as a coach. It is believed that the matches include some in international cricket as well as for his stints in T20 leagues – including the IPL, the BPL and Afghanistan Premier League. Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager – Integrity Unit, said “Heath Streak is an experienced former international cricketer and national team coach, who had participated in numerous anti-corruption education sessions and was fully aware of his responsibilities under the Code”. “As a former captain and coach, he held a position of trust and owed a duty to uphold the integrity of the game. He breached the Code on several occasions, including facilitating the approach of four other players. At times, he also sought to obstruct and delay our investigation.” He continued.
The entire incident involving Heath Streak is unfortunate to say the least. This all happened in 2017. Streak and Deepak Agarwal started chatting about organizing a T20 League in Zimbabwe. Streak, the former captain and legend of Zimbabwe. was the head coach of the national team at the time as well, and Agarwal was simply a Delhi-based businessman. Agarwal wasn’t yet banned (for two years) by ICC’s anti-corruption unit from participating in any cricket-related activities – that wouldn’t be till April 2020, after details of his key role in the Shakib Al Hasan corruption breaches emerged. It was Agarwal who initiated the WhatsApp chats. He is the one who contacted Streak on his personal phone number and email account. Agarwal told Streak that he could “earn some good money” for setting up the T20 league. ICC’s statement regarding the ban on Streak says that Agarwal took Streak’s name and clearly mentioned the fact that he too was involved in betting. Agarwal also said that he asked Streak his bank account details.
“In relation to the 2017 edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, Mr X [later confirmed to be Agarwal] asked Mr Streak to provide him with any links, namely team captains, or owners or players, in the BPL, saying they could earn good money as a result which they could invest in a T20 event in Zimbabwe,” the ICC’s investigation found. “It appeared that Mr X wanted Mr Streak to provide him with contacts of players, team owners etc. who Mr X could then approach for Inside Information, such as which team would win a match, in upcoming matches.” It is understood that Streak “actually contacted” two of the players himself to “vouch” for Agarwal. According to ESPNcricinfo, it was Shakib who was one of these players. Shakib was banned by the ICC for two years as he failed to report a few approaches from Agarwal. It was in 2017 when a cricketer from from an economically disadvantaged background (from a full-member country), reported an approach from Agarwal to the ACU.
One of the charges was that both Streak and Agarwal had scripted their responses to cover for the other before the cricketer was scheduled to meet the ACU team in January 2019. Streak and Agarwal exchanged “a series of WhatsApp messages”.
“Mr Streak has admitted that he and Mr X effectively discussed what Mr Streak should say in the interviews to ensure that they both told the same story (a story which on occasions was not true) and consequently he has admitted that his conduct in so doing could be construed as misleading or obstructing the ACU’s investigation. Mr Streak also sought clarification from Mr X over the interview process and what Mr X had told the ACU on certain matters,” Said the ICC.