HARARE, Oct 10: Former Zimbabwe all-rounder and national team coach Kevin Curran has died after collapsing while jogging. He was 53.

Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) said Curran, whose latest role had been as a national team selector, died early on Wednesday morning in the eastern city of Mutare. The cause of death was not yet known but a heart attack was suspected.

Curran also coached domestic team Mashonaland Eagles, who were in Mutare to play Manicaland Mountaineers in a one-dayer and Twenty20 game when he died. Those fixtures were cancelled, ZC said in a statement, adding that a minute’s silence would be observed at another domestic game on Wednesday in Curran’s honour.

“We are still in shock. Kevin was the epitome of health and we have yet to make sense of this tragic loss,” ZC managing director Wilfred Mukondiwa said. “The cricket fraternity has been dealt a great blow.”

A right-handed middle-order batsman and fast-medium bowler, Curran played 11 One-day Internationals for Zimbabwe and appeared at the 1983 and 1987 World Cups.

He also played for English county sides Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire, but missed out on a Test career with Zimbabwe by remaining in England when his country entered the longest form of the sport in 1992.

Mountaineers coach Gary Brent, who played for Zimbabwe under Curran, told The Associated Press that Curran’s death was ‘devastating.’“It’s so unexpected and hard to take,” Brent said. Former Zimbabwe captain and head selector Alistair Campbell said Curran was one of the most competitive people he knew.—AP