Question: When does the English cricket season begin?

2019 English cricket season


The 2019 English cricket season will run between 26 March and 26 September. It will be the 120th in which the County Championship has been an official competition and will feature first-class, one-day and Twenty20 cricket competitions throughout England and Wales.
The season will see the 2019 Cricket World Cup played in the country between 30 May and 14 July as well as an Ashes tour by Australia following the competition. Pakistan will take part in a one-day tour before the World Cup and the England men's team will play a One Day International in Ireland and a Test match against Ireland at Lord's in the first Test between the two teams. The West Indies and Australian women's sides will both tour during the season.
The 18 first-class counties will compete in the 2019 County Championship, One-Day Cup and T20 Blast competitions, whilst women's teams will compete for the 2019 Women's Cricket Super League and for the Women's County Championship. The 2019 Minor Counties Championship and MCCA Knockout Trophy will be competed for by the Minor Counties of England and Wales and club cricket will be played throughout both countries.
The season will be the last before the scheduled introduction of a city based 100-ball competition by the ECB in 2020 and changes to the organisation of Minor County cricket.[1][2]
International Tours
Three mens international sides will tour England and Wales during the season: Pakistan, Ireland and Australia. The West Indies and Australian women's sides will also tour the country.
World Cup

The 12th edition of the Cricket World Cup will take place at 11 grounds across England and Wales between 30 May and 14 July, with the final scheduled to take place at Lord's. A total of 48 matches will be played in the tournament which will feature 10 international sides which qualified for the finals, with each team playing two round-robin matches with the top four sides qualifying for the two semi-final stage to determine the finalists.[3][4] It is the fifth time that the Cricket World Cup will be held in the British Isles, following the 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999 World Cups.[5]
MCCU matches

The season will begin on 26 March with the first of three rounds of matches between first-class counties and the six Marylebone Cricket Club University teams. Each first-class county will play one first-class match against a university side before the start of the County Championship season in April.
County Championship

The men's County Championship season will begin on 5 April and is scheduled to finish on 26 September with each team playing 14 matches. One team will be relegated from Division One and three promoted from Division Two in order to create a larger Division One ahead of the 2020 Championship.[1][6][7]
One-Day Cup

The One-Day Cup competition will be played in a block of matches starting on 17 April, having been brought forward to be played before the start of the World Cup. Teams will be organised in two geographical divisions, with each team playing eight 50-over fixtures. Teams will play every other team in their division with the final played at Lord's on 25 May.[4][6][7]
t20 Blast

The mens Twenty20 Cup competition will be played in a block of matches in the same geographical groups as the One-Day Cup. Group matches will be played in a block starting 18 July, each side playing 14 group-stage matches. Finals day is scheduled for 21 September at Edgbaston.[6][7]
Women's County Championship

The 2019 Women's County Championship will be played between 5 May and 2 June. Each of the eight sides in Division One of the Championship will play seven one-day fixtures, once against each of the other teams.[8] A separate Twenty20 competition will follow the County Championship between 9 June and 30 June with teams organised into a different set of divisions. Each Division One team will play eight matches, one against each of the other teams in the Division.[8]
Women's Super League

The group stages of the Women's Super League will be played between 6 August and 28 August with a finals day scheduled to take place at Hove on 1 September.[7] In 2019 each franchise will play each other both home and away with 10 group matches per side. The competition is scheduled to be the last in the present format, with an eight team 100 ball competition planned for the 2020 season with a new set of teams.[9]
Minor Counties Competitions

The Minor Counties Championship will run from June to September with teams organised in two divisions based on their geographical location. Each team will play six three-day matches against sides from within their division with the four-day final taking place at Banbury Cricket Club Ground in Oxfordshire.[10]
The MCCA Knockout Trophy and the group stages of the Unicorns Twenty20 Cup competition will take place before the start of the Championship, beginning in May. The finals of both competitions will take place at Wormsley Park in Buckinghamshire in August.[10]
This will be the final year of the current format for Minor Counties competitions, with changes, including a change of name, scheduled to begin during 2020.[10][2]