2019 English cricket season
The 2019 English cricket season ran between 26 March and 26 September. It was the 120th in which the County Championship has been an official competition and featured first-class, one-day and Twenty20 cricket competitions throughout England and Wales. The season saw the 2019 Cricket World Cup played in the country between 30 May and 14 July, followed by an Ashes tour by Australia in August and September. Pakistan took 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 both had toured during the season. The 18 first-class counties was competed in the 2019 County Championship, One-Day Cup and T20 Blast competitions, whilst women's teams competed for the 2019 Women's Cricket Super League and for the Women's County Championship. The 2019 Minor Counties Championship and MCCA Knockout Trophy was competed for by the Minor Counties of England and Wales and club cricket had been played throughout both countries. The season  was the last before the scheduled introduction of a city based 100-ball competition by the ECB in 2020 and changed to the organisation of Minor County cricket. International Tours. Three men's international sides toured England and Wales during the season: Pakistan, Ireland and Australia. ODIs and t20s played against Pakistan, the first test match between England and Ireland, and the Ashes contested between England and Australia. The Ashes series played after the 2019 Cricket World Cup. The West Indies and Australian women's sides also toured the country. Pakistan tour. Pakistan toured England during the end of April  to play a complete limited overs leg, which consisted of an T20I and a five match ODI series ahead of the 2019 Cricket World Cup. Pakistan played one-off T20I at Cardiff, in which England won by 7 wickets to kick off the limited overs tour. After played the one-off T20I, Pakistan played a 5 match ODI series, with England won all the matches except the first ODI which was ended in No result due to rain. Before both the limited over series, Pakistan played two List A matches against Kent and Northamptonshire followed by an T20 match played  against Leicestershire. Ireland tour. Ireland toured England to play a one-off four day test match, after played their inaugural test match against Pakistan in 2018. England won the test by 143 runs, despite some unbelievable comebacks from both the teams throughout the test match. 2019 Ashes series. After knocked out of 2019 Cricket World Cup, during August, Australia played the 2019 edition of the Ashes series. Earlier, in July, England played a one-off Test match against Ireland. Australia retained the Ashes after winning the fourth Test to take an unassailable 2–1 lead in the series, but England's  victory in the final Test meant the series was drawn 2–2, the first drawn Ashes series since 1972. Before the series, Australia scheduled to play a first-class match against Australia A. Later, this match was replaced by a four-day intra squad match between Brad Haddin XII and Graeme Hick XII, which consisted of twelve Australian players each. In between, after completion of first test, Australia played a three-day match against Worcestershire. Likewise, before the fourth test also Australia played a three-day match against Derbyshire. West Indies women's tour. The West Indies women's cricket team  toured England in June 2019 to play three Women ODIs and three Women T20Is. Before their visit to England, the West Indies women's team also toured Ireland to play three WT20I matches. England women won the WODI series 3–0. England also won the T20I series 1–0, after two matches were abandoned due to rain. Australia women's tour. The Australia women's cricket team toured England in June and July 2019 to play the England women's cricket team to contest the Women's Ashes. The tour consisted of three WODIs, one-off Test match and three WT20Is. Australia  women won the WODI series 3–0 taking 6–0 points, and the one-off Test match was drawn, giving Australia an unassailable 8–2 lead in the series, and retained the Women's Ashes. Later, Australia went on to win the WT20I series 2–1, therefore retained the Ashes 12–4 in the points-based system. World Cup. The 12th edition of the Cricket World Cup took 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 played in the tournament which was featured 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. It was the fifth time that the Cricket World Cup had been held in the British Isles, following the 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999 World Cups. After six weeks of round-robin matches, which saw four games not have a result, India, Australia, England and New Zealand finished as the top four, with Pakistan missing out on net run rate. In the knockout stage, England and New Zealand won  their respective semi-finals to qualify for the final, which was played at Lord's in London. The final ended in a tie after the match ended with both teams scoring 241 runs, followed by the first Super Over in an ODI, England won the title, their first, on the boundary countback rule after the Super Over also finished level. MCCU matches. The period of matches began on 26 March and ended on 7 April with the first of three rounds of matches between first-class counties and the six Marylebone Cricket Club University teams. Each first-class county played  one either a first-class match or a non first-class match against a university side before the start of the County Championship season in April. In the opening round of fixtures, Alastair Cook scored 150 not out for Essex against Cambridge MCCU, in his first match since retiring from Test cricket. The opening round also saw Somerset beat Cardiff MCCU by 568 runs, a record margin for a first-class match in England. In the third and final round of matches, England Test cricketer Haseeb Hameed scored a double century, albeit in a fixture without first-class status. In  August 2019, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that the 2020 fixtures will be the last ones to have first-class status. County Championship. The men's County Championship season was scheduled to begin on 5 April and to finish on 26 September with each team playing 14 matches. As in 2018, Division One had eight teams and Division Two had ten teams. Nottinghamshire 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. One-Day Cup. The One-Day Cup competition played  in a block of matches starting on 17 April, had been brought forward to be played before the start of the World Cup. Teams was organised in two geographical divisions, with each team playing eight 50-over fixtures. Teams played every other team in their division with the final played at Lord's on 25 May. t20 Blast. The men's Twenty20 Cup competition played in a block of matches in the same geographical groups as the One-Day Cup. Group matches played in a block starting 18 July, each side playing 14 group-stage matches. Finals day scheduled for  21 September at Edgbaston. Women's County Championship. The 2019 Women's County Championship played between 5 May and 2 June. Each of the eight sides in Division One of the Championship played seven one-day fixtures, once against each of the other teams. A separate Twenty20 competition followed the County Championship between 9 June and 30 June with teams organised into a different set of divisions. Each Division One team played eight matches, one against each of the other teams in the Division. Women's Super League. The group stages of the Women's Super League played between 6  August and 28 August with a finals day scheduled took place at Hove on 1 September. In 2019 each franchise played each other both home and away with 10 group matches per side. The competition was 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. Minor Counties Competitions. The Minor Counties Championship ran from June to September with teams organised in two divisions based on their geographical location. Each team played six three-day matches against sides from within their division with  the four-day final taking place at Banbury Cricket Club Ground in Oxfordshire. The Unicorns Knockout Trophy and the group stages of the Unicorns T20 Cup competition took place before the start of the Championship, beginning in May. The finals of both competitions w took place at Wormsley Park in Buckinghamshire in August. This was the final year of the current format for Minor Counties competitions, with changes, including a change of name, scheduled to begin during 2020.