Heath Davis: Former Test bowler becomes first New Zealand male player to come out as gay | Cricket News
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Heath Davis bowling for New Zealand A against England in 1997
Former Speed Test player Heath Davis has become the first New Zealand international cricketer to come out as gay.
Davis, now 50 and living in Australia, played five Tests and 11 one-day internationals from 1994 to 1997, while enjoying a long domestic career as a fast but erratic bowler.
« I felt there was this part of my life that I was hiding, » he said in an interview with online magazine The Spinoff.
“There was a lot of that, just keeping your personal life separate. It was lonely…I was repressing it, I wasn’t living a gay life.”
Davis said life improved after a move from his native Wellington to play national cricket in the more cosmopolitan city of Auckland in 1997.
“I felt there was this part of my life that I had to express, I was tired of hiding it,” he added.
« Everyone in Auckland knew I was gay, on the team, but it didn’t seem like such a big deal…I just felt free. »
Former England wicketkeeper Steven Davies became the first men’s international cricketer to come out publicly as gay in early 2011.
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