Former New Zealand fast-bowler Heath Davis has become the first-ever male international cricketer from his country to come out as gay. Heath Davis opened up about his sexuality and his struggles with loneliness while speaking in a documentary series for The Spinoff called “Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends”. Overall, he is the second international male cricketer to come out out as gay.
The first one is former England cricketer Steven Davies who revealed his sexuality publicly way back in 2011. Davies represented England in 8 ODIs and 5 T20Is. Meanwhile, three decades after making his Test debut in 1994, Heath David recalled his past life and shared his experience of living separate lives on and off the field until he moved from Wellington to Auckland.
“The first tour to England [in 1994], I was starting to discover myself, was going to a few bars and things privately to see what life was… well, you are on the other side of the world, no one is going to know you,” he said.
“I left that part of my life there. There was a lot of that, just keeping your personal life separate. It was lonely. Going to saunas and seedy places to get sex because you didn’t want to be seen and that sort of stuff. I had systems and people in place where I could talk about these things but I didn’t feel comfortable,” added Heath Davis.
All the stars aligned to move: Heath Davis
Speaking further, Heath Davis revealed how things started falling back in place once he decided to move to Auckland. Davis took the decision to relocate after being dropped by New Zealand for the last time in 1997 following a tour of Australia.
“All the stars aligned to move. Everyone in Auckland knew I was gay; in the team it didn’t seem to be that big an issue. Maybe some of the young ones if you’re sharing a room with them or something, but just petty s**t. Things I thought might have been issues weren’t really. I just felt free,” said David.
Talking about his career, Davis is renowned as one of the fastest bowlers New Zealand has ever produced. He, however, could not enjoy a successful career in international cricket as he played only Tests and 11 ODIs between 1994 and 1997. In Tests, he picked up 17 wickets while in ODIs, he managed 11 wickets.