On Sunday 17th July, in 30 degree heat, the Mitcham Sapphires played host to Croydon CC for their Smash IT league fixture. Although the Green has seen many women's cricket matches in the past 80 years - including appearances by both the Australian and Jamaican national sides - these have been one off, often exhibition, matches.

Since the Mitcham Women's team - the Mitcham Sapphires - was set up in 2018 the squad has been working towards participation in competitive cricket. In 2022 the Sapphires entered their first competition, albeit in a softball cricket development league - bringing women's league cricket to the Green for the first time in more than 350 years of cricket.

Croydon CC were victorious in the fixture, which was played in good spirit. The teams were grateful to Peter and Mark for standing as Umpires and Adrian for acting as Scorer. The Sapphires are looking forward to their final fixtures on the 14th August which will be hosted by Croydon CC, where they will play both the home side and Wimbledon CC.

The Sapphires also hope to field some players for the Mitcham CC match against the Mayor of Merton's XI scheduled for 11th September.

If you are interested in joining the Sapphires they train on Thursday evenings from 6-7pm on the Green.