Makunura remains hungry despite Logan Cup quadruple

Sport
BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE Cricket coach Shepherd Makunura remains hungry for success despite bagging a fourth consecutive Logan Cup title with newly resuscitated Masvingo-based franchise Southern Rocks. Makunura has established himself as one of the best coaches on the local scene guiding the Rocks to a perfect Logan Cup season after beating his former side Mountaineers […]

BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE

Cricket coach Shepherd Makunura remains hungry for success despite bagging a fourth consecutive Logan Cup title with newly resuscitated Masvingo-based franchise Southern Rocks.

Makunura has established himself as one of the best coaches on the local scene guiding the Rocks to a perfect Logan Cup season after beating his former side Mountaineers by 154 runs last week.

Interestingly, Makunura joined Mountaineers when Rocks were disbanded about seven years ago and guided them to three Logan Cup triumphs between 2017 and 2019.

And Makunura returned to Rocks in December when the franchise was revived after a six-year hiatus, winning the four-day competition convincingly.

“It means a great deal for me to win the Logan Cup especially considering that I moved from Mountaineers to Rocks and managed to assemble a squad capable of winning the competition. It was really special to come back to Rocks and win the Logan Cup,” Makunura told Standardsport.

“Obviously as a coach you aspire for great things. I am still hungry for trophies on the domestic scene and I would love to keep winning.

“However, one day I hope I will get the opportunity to coach the national teams and fight for bigger trophies at an international level,” he said.

One of the biggest performers for Southern Rocks was spin bowler Tendai Chisoro, who ransacked 18 wickets in four matches to walk away with the bowler of the competition accolade.

Roy Kaia starred with both ball and bat after scoring 374 runs, the most in the competition, while he also finished with 12 wickets.

Kaia’s brother Innocent was the second highest run scorer in the Logan Cup with 368 runs after scoring four half centuries.

Makunura gave credit to the players.

“Credit always goes to the players for the hard work and commitment, making sure that they play their part for the team to win.

“Every time you compete you have to believe that you can win and looking at the quality of the squad, I knew we could at least compete.

“And in the end we not only managed to win, but we managed to convincingly win all our matches,” he said.

Makunura is also of the view that the Southern Rocks success can do a lot in inspiring the development of the game in Masvingo.

“I think the province has lost a lot of talent since the franchise was disbanded and this win means a lot for the region. I have had a couple of journalists from Masvingo after the win to write about the success. It was also nice to see a couple of youngsters from the region also making the team,” he said.

Eagles finished second in the Logan Cup, with Rhinos third and Tuskers fourth, while Makunura’s former side Mountaineers, who won the previous three competitions, finished bottom of the log.