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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. 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] ReferencesExternal links |
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