Zimbabwe cricket has been rocked yet again in a span of a month as the assistant coach of the women's side, Sinikiwe Mpofu, passed away at the age of 37.
The former player was an integral part of the Zimbabwe side in the two editions of the Women's World Cup Qualifier and played a crucial role as a coach of Southerns in Zimbabwe's domestic cricket.
The news comes just under a month after her husband, Shepherd Makunura's passing on December 15.
"Mpofu was pronounced dead on arrival at a medical facility after she collapsed at her home in Masvingo on Saturday, and a post-mortem to determine the cause of her death was due to be carried out," Zimbabwe Cricket stated in an official press release.
Under her leadership as the Head Coach of the Mountaineers, the team won the inaugural Fifty50 Challenge - Zimbabwe’s provincial one-day championship for women in the 2020/21 season. She also led them to the summit clash of the Women’s T20 Cup.
"Death has robbed us of a genuinely warm individual, more importantly, a loving mother, and deprived so many others, including all of us, of one of the pioneers of women's cricket in Zimbabwe who went on to excel as a coach at provincial and national levels," Givemore Makoni, Zimbabwe Cricket's managing director said.
"With her sudden passing coming just a few weeks after the death of her loving husband, who was also a part of our national team coaching setup, this is particularly a difficult and painful time for their young children, families, friends and the entire cricket fraternity," he concluded.
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