Zimbabwean cricketing coach Shepherd Makunura died in December, last year, know his cause of death as his wife dies now
Shepherd Makunura, Zimbabwe’s fielding coach, sadly passed away in December last year after a protracted illness.
Who is Shepherd Makunura husband of Zimbabwe coach Sinikiwe Mpofu, his cause of death, age, family, cricket stats
It is with great sadness and shock that Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) announces the sudden death of Zimbabwe Senior Women’s National Team Assistant Coach Sinikiwe Mpofu, less than a month after her husband, Shepherd Makunura, was laid to rest.
She was 37. pic.twitter.com/jqLincfVxl
— Zimbabwe Cricket – Women (@zimbabwewomen) January 8, 2023
#Thread: Shepherd Makunura never raised his voice. He didn’t need to. Authority and respect came naturally to him.
He was full of life and jokes but his biggest drive was principle. I first met him in 05 after landing a cricket scholarship that took me from Zvishavane to Harare pic.twitter.com/E14woyUeaR
— Maynard Manyowa (@iAmKudaMaynard) December 15, 2022
Taking to Twitter, the Zimbabwe cricket team wrote,
We have lost one of our very best coaches, an unsung hero of our game who has been instrumental in the unearthing and nurturing of many of Zimbabwe’s talented players. – ZC Managing Director Givemore Makoni. #RIPShepherdMakunura
Now, recently the reports have been coming that his wife Sinikiwe Mpofu also passed away. However, her cause of death is still not known. Due to her death, many people started talking about Shepheard and tried to find out more about him. So, let’s find out more about him:
Who was Shepherd Makunura?
Shepherd Makunura was a well-known former Zimbabwean cricketer and a fielding coach. He has been in the news because her wife recently passed away, weeks after he died.
His full name was Shepherd Tichaendepi Makunura. He was born on October 23, 1976, in Salisbury, Rhodesia.
He did his schooling at Chengu Primary School in Highfield and then attended Prince Edward School.
He was married and his wife’s name is Sinikiwe Mpofu, who was also a cricketing coach. They are the parents of two children.
He died on December 15, 2022, in Harare, Zimbabwe. He was 46 years old when he died.
His Career
Shepherd Makunura was chosen for the national under-15 squad and the Takashinga Cricket Club after the Zimbabwe Cricket Union’s urban development program recognized his ability.
He participated in three games for Mashonaland A in the Logan Cup in 2001–2002, scoring a career-high 62 runs against Midlands. He played two matches for Northerns against Southerns and Kenya Select in the 2006–07 season, marking his comeback to first-class cricket. An Achilles tendon injury in 2007 ended his playing career.
Shepherd Makunura later began his coaching career in 2008-2010 as the head coach of the Zimbabwe national under-19 cricket team. In addition to coaching the Zimbabwe XI in the 2018 Africa T20 Cup in South Africa, he served as head coach of Zimbabwe A for the series against Canada and Kenya in 2018.
In the same year, he was hired as the fielding coach for the Zimbabwe national cricket team, a role he retained up until his passing in 2022.
Cause of death of Shepherd Makunura
He died following a protracted illness but its nature is not known.