Cricket in England
Cricket in England is one of the most popular sports in the country and is known to have been played in England since the 16th century. The Marylebone Cricket Club, based at Lords, developed the modern rules of play and conduct.There are eighteen professional county clubs, seventeen of them in England and one in Wales. All eighteen counties are named after, and were originally representative of, historic counties. These clubs are heavily dependent on subsidies from the England and Wales Cricket Board, which makes its money from television and endorsement contracts and attendances at international matches. The English cricket season traditionally starts at the beginning of April and runs though to the second half of September although in recent years counties have played pre season friendly matches at the very end of March.
2005–06 West Indian cricket season
The 2005–06 West Indian cricket season includes all domestic cricket matches played by senior teams with first class status in the West Indies between October 2005 and March 2006, and also the international feats of the West Indies team, who is not scheduled to play any home games during this period but are to play home matches during April, May and June 2006. The season began on 2005-10-03 with the first matches of the one-day KFC Cup, and is scheduled to last until 2006-03-19 when England A depart after their tour which will include one-day and first class matches against the West Indies A team. The West Indies will not play any home Tests during their home season, but they have toured Australia (losing the 3-Test series 0–3), and toured New Zealand in February and March, immediately after the conclusion of the 2005-06 Carib Beer Cup, the first class competition.