09 January 2023 , 15:38
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Zimbabwe women's assistant coach and former all-rounder Sinikiwe Mpofu has tragically passed away at the age of just 37, less than a month after her husband died.
In a statement, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) said that Mpofu was "pronounced dead on arrival at a medical facility after she collapsed at her home in Masvingo" and that a post-mortem was due to be carried out to determine her cause of death.
Mpofu notably played in Zimbabwe's first-ever women's international in December 2006 and moved into coaching after announcing her retirement from playing, coaching the Mountaineers women's team while also working with the national side.
Her Mountaineers side won the inaugural edition of the Fifty50 Challenge in the 2020-21 campaign and they were beaten finalists the next season in the Women's T20 Cup.
She met her husband, Shepherd Makunura, through cricket and the pair had two children together. Makunura was the fielding coach for the Zimbabwe men's team, but missed last year's T20 World Cup due to a battle with illness.
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On December 15, it was announced that he had lost his battle with illness at a hospital in Harare at the age of just 46. ZC Managing Director Givemore Makoni offered "heartfelt condolences" after Mpofu's tragic passing just 23 days after her husband's.
(Zimcricket.org)"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," Makoni 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.
"In extending to them our heartfelt condolences, we wish them courage and strength to bear this devastating loss."