HEATH STREAK: GLEANINGS

The pursuit of interesting cricketers to interview to help earn a crust recently put me in touch with Heath Streak. I'd gotten hold of his email from Gary Brent, a 75-time Zimbabwe ODI cap who sub-pro'd for Moddershall once each in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Streak instructed me to call him at "8am Zim time", which meant getting up at 5.45am here and creeping into an icy conservatory to make the call (it had to be on loudspeaker, so as to record). He spoke incredibly softly, so quietly at times I couldn't hear (and, worse, felt certain the mp3 dictaphone wouldn't pick up, particulalrly as tractors rumbled up the lanes), but once the air warmed up and the voice was raised, it was a pleasurable chat.

As with so man of his countrymen, he wasn't given to lyrical floursihes, but there was a sharp, dry wit in there. Hopefully that comes through, even if a lot of it was off the record. You wouldn't want Robert Mugabe to read it.

Heath Streak: Gleanings