Former test player Heath Davis has become New Zealand’s first male cricketer to speak publicly about being gay. The 50-year-old played for the Black Caps from 1994 to 1997, and revealed his sexuality in an episode of documentary series Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends.
He comes out 11 years after former England wicketkeeper, Steve Davis, who was the first international male cricketer to come out publicly in 2011.
The New Zealander began to explore his sexuality on his first tour to England in 1994, despite telling his mother at an early age that he was gay.
Davis believed some of his teammates “might have talked in private as people do,” before telling a few of them towards the end of his professional career. “I certainly wasn’t living a gay life, wasn’t part of the scene, didn’t have a partner.