William Henry Ranger Cunningham (23 January 1900 – 29 November 1984) was a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

er in New Zealand from 1922 to 1931. A right-arm opening bowler and lower-order batsman, Cunningham made his first-class debut for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

in the 1922–23 season. He took 15 wickets at an average of 17.46 in the three-match

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

season to lead the national averages, with best figures of 5 for 72 (8 for 145 in the match) in the victory over

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. In the first match of the 1924–25 season he took 6 for 33 against

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(8 for 51 in the match) to help Canterbury to victory by 342 runs. 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. He was selected to play for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in the match against

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later in the season. 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. 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. He played a few matches over subsequent seasons but never regained his old form.Bill Cunningham bowling by season
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Bill 1900 births 1984 deaths New Zealand cricketers Pre-1930 New Zealand representative cricketers Canterbury cricketers Cricketers from Christchurch