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.
International cricket in 2018
The 2018 international cricket season was from May 2018 to September 2018. 16 Test matches, 27 One-day Internationals (ODIs) and 33 Twenty20 International (T20Is) were played during this period. The season started with India leading the Test cricket rankings, England leading the ODI rankings, Pakistan leading the Twenty20 rankings, and Australia women leading the women's rankings. This season was also the first to be scheduled under the 2018–2023 Future Tours Programme. In addition, all women's Twenty20 matches played between member sides after 1 July were given full international status and classified as WT20Is, as per a decision made by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in April 2018. The first WT20Is to be classified as such under these new rules took place at the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier.