Mitcham Cricket Green is a

cricket ground Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by stri ...

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It h ...

, south

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

(historically in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

). It is the home of

Mitcham Cricket Club Mitcham Cricket Club is reported by '' The Independent'' to be the oldest cricket club in existence, with the club having played cricket on Mitcham Cricket Green since 1685. The club was reportedly watched by Lord Nelson during his time in the ar ...

and is reportedly the oldest cricket ground still in use, having been used for cricket since 1685. ''Note'': the roads alongside are the A217 and the A239.

History

In the 19th century, the

Australian cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) a ...

would stay at ''The Cricketers'' pub which formerly overlooked the green and practise on the green whilst on tour. The pub was used as the "pavilion" for the matches on the Cricket Green up until the current pavilion was built in at the beginning of the 20th Century, the scorer having a position on the balcony of the inn. The Cricketers pub was destroyed by an incendiary bomb in WW2 (which fell between the pub and the adjacent Vestry Hall - which still stands). A replacement pub was built post-war, but has since been demolished and there is a block of flats on the site. The present pavilion was built in 1904 and is rare in being one of only a few cricket pavilions to be separated from the ground by a road, (the A239).

Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South London. ...

first used the ground in 1949 for a match in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

. Surrey continued to use the ground for 2nd XI matches until 1973. Its first usage in the

Second XI Championship The Second XI Championship is a season-long cricket competition in England that is competed for by the reserve teams of those county cricket clubs that have first-class status. The competition started in 1959 and has been contested annually ever ...

was for a match in 1959. Surrey has never used Mitcham for a first-class match. In September 1919 the Green hosted a Mitcham v Australian Imperial Forces XI match (the final game of the AIF XI tour of England), the Australian team on the day included 3 players who subsequently played Test cricket for Australia. In 2019 Mitcham CC hosted a team from the Australian Embassy to commemorate the centenary of this match. The match on the Green which is reputed to have drawn the biggest crowd was a women's game Surrey v Australia in 1937 where press reports suggest that a crowd in excess of 10,000 was present. This was the last game of the Australia tour. Women's cricket has been played regularly on the Green, including a warm up game for the 1973 World Cup (Surrey v Jamaica). The most notable match of recent times was the

Golden Jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু� ...

Challenge Match, a match held between Mitcham and Hambledon Club, two of the oldest clubs in the country, in honour of the

Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II The Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II was the international celebration held in 2002 marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. It was intended by the Queen to be both a commemoration of her 50 years as ...

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham, (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as on ...

made a guest appearance with the Queen's Jubilee Baton. The match was a two innings affair.

Local government

The Cricket Green also lends its name to the nearby area, and is a

Conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

and

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

References

{{coord, 51, 24, 4, N, 0, 10, 1.8, W, type:landmark_scale:2000_region:GB, display=title 1685 establishments in England Cricket grounds in Surrey Cricket grounds in London Defunct cricket grounds in England Defunct sports venues in Surrey English cricket in the 14th to 17th centuries English cricket venues in the 18th century English cricket in the 19th century

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Merton Sport in the London Borough of Merton Sports venues completed in 1685