Moon Mughis

Moon Mughis never imagined that her love for cricket would also help her inspire a generation of young girls to pursue the sport – including her own daughter.

A proud graduate of Glasgow Caledonian University, Moon turned her passion for cricket into purpose, carving out a space for women and girls in a sport long dominated by men.

Together with her daughter Nayma Sheikh, who now plays for the Scotland Women's National Cricket Team, Moon identified a lack of opportunities for girls in their local area to play cricket.

So, the pair worked together to set up a women’s section at East Kilbride Cricket Club.

“I wanted to play cricket initially and I saw there was a deep interest in my daughter as well, so we found a cricket club in our local area.

“I could see a huge gap and I wanted more girls to come. But whenever I would have a discussion with other parents, they used to say that their girl is a bit shy when she looks at the male coaches. So, this was basically one of the major problems.”

When they first joined the club, Nayma was the only girl on the team.

She and her mum had spoken to a lot of girls who were interested in playing the sport but had no women’s section to join – so the mother-daughter duo decided to change that.

“Starting off with only two or three and now having 21 girls in the past four years is absolutely amazing. All these girls now have opportunities to play, to make friends and to enjoy the lovely weather and spend time with their friends and play games.”

In fact, if it weren’t for the women’s section at East Kilbride Cricket Club, Nayma might never have been able to work her way up to the position she plays now with the national team.

Now a professional cricket player at only 19 years old, Nayma recalls the first time she watched her mum play cricket and was inspired to take up the sport.

“My dad played the State Ball Cricket League in 2017-2018 and there was a finals and kids and mums were all playing. That’s when I saw my mum playing and she was so good.

“I'd never seen a woman play cricket before, I'd always only seen men, so watching a female play cricket so well I just thought “I can do that, I'm going to give it a go”. She was my inspiration and because of her I started playing cricket.”

Last year, Moon was celebrated for her efforts in making East Kilbride Cricket Club more inclusive for women and was award the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024 Unsung Hero Award.

“You’d always see on TV that a particular lady or gentlemen had been able to get this award, and you’d be so impressed and happy for them. So, to be able to get this award for yourself is just an incredible feeling.

“I am really thankful to BBC for recognising my hard work, my dedication and my efforts and this makes me even more motivated to do more things going forward.”

Nayma was asked to be part of the award ceremony at East Kilbride Cricket Club, where she surprised her mum with the award on camera.

“When I found out that my mum got the Unsung Hero BBC Award, I was so happy for her. All her hours of volunteering really paid off and for me to be able to give that award to my mum was just a different feeling - it was something else. It was so good, and I felt so happy.”