Bill Cunningham (cricketer)

William Henry Ranger Cunningham (23 January 1900 – 29 November 1984) was a first-class cricketer in New Zealand from 1922 to 1931.

Bill Cunningham
Personal information
Full name
William Henry Ranger Cunningham
Born(1900-01-23)23 January 1900
Christchurch, New Zealand
Died29 November 1984(1984-11-29) (aged 84)
Christchurch, New Zealand
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium-fast
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1922/23–1930/31Canterbury
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 32
Runs scored 396
Batting average 11.64
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 33 not out
Balls bowled 6,455
Wickets 91
Bowling average 34.30
5 wickets in innings 4
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 6/33
Catches/stumpings 8/–
Source: CricketArchive, 15 May 2014

A right-arm opening bowler and lower-order batsman, Cunningham made his first-class debut for Canterbury in the 1922–23 season. He took 15 wickets at an average of 17.46 in the three-match Plunket Shield season to lead the national averages,[1] with best figures of 5 for 72 (8 for 145 in the match) in the victory over Wellington.[2]

In the first match of the 1924–25 season he took 6 for 33 against Auckland (8 for 51 in the match) to help Canterbury to victory by 342 runs.[3] In the first innings of the next match, against Wellington, he came to the wicket at 184 for 8 and hit 33 not out to take the Canterbury total to 290, then took 5 for 83 in the first innings. Canterbury won by 57 runs.[4] He was selected to play for New Zealand in the match against Victoria later in the season.[citation needed]

He toured Australia with New Zealand in 1925-26, where he was New Zealand's most successful bowler, with 13 wickets in the four state matches.[5] He took 14 wickets in the Plunket Shield in 1926-27 and was selected for the tour of England in 1927. In England, however, he completely lost form and confidence, taking only five wickets in seven matches.[6] He played a few matches over subsequent seasons but never regained his old form.[7]

References

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