1744 English cricket season

The 1744 cricket season was the 147th in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597 (i.e., Old Style – 1598 New Style). Details have survived of 22 important eleven-a-side and three single wicket matches. It was a pivotal season in English cricket history because the earliest known codification of the Laws of Cricket was written by a group calling themselves the "Noblemen and Gentlemen" of the London Cricket Club.

The season is also notable for the two earliest known surviving match scorecards, although they are nothing like as comprehensive as modern ones. The first, containing individual scores but no details of dismissal, has survived from the London v Slindon game on Saturday, 2 June. Just over a fortnight later, Monday, 18 June, the most famous match of the 1740s was the challenge by Kent to take on a team representing the rest of England at the Artillery Ground. Kent won a dramatic contest by a single wicket despite needing several runs to win when their last pair of batsmen came together. The scorecard became the first entry in Arthur Haygarth's Scores & Biographies, though he had the date wrong. It is not until the 1772 season that any more scorecards of important matches have survived (a handful of cards from minor matches have been found).

In September, Slindon defeated London and then issued its famous challenge to play any parish in England. The challenge was accepted by the Addington and Bromley clubs, which both had fine teams, but the two challenge matches may have been hit by bad weather and it is not known if they were completed.

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