| Bill Cunningham | |
| Country: | New Zealand |
| Fullname: | William Henry Ranger Cunningham |
| Birth Date: | 23 January 1900 |
| Birth Place: | Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Death Place: | Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Batting: | Right-handed |
| Bowling: | Right-arm medium-fast |
| Club1: | Canterbury |
| Columns: | 1 |
| Column1: | First-class |
| Matches1: | 32 |
| Runs1: | 396 |
| Bat Avg1: | 11.64 |
| 100S/50S1: | 0/0 |
| Top Score1: | 33 not out |
| Deliveries1: | 6,455 |
| Wickets1: | 91 |
| Bowl Avg1: | 34.30 |
| Fivefor1: | 4 |
| Tenfor1: | 0 |
| Best Bowling1: | 6/33 |
| Catches/Stumpings1: | 8/– |
| Date: | 15 May |
| Year: | 2014 |
| Source: | https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/15/15919/15919.html CricketArchive |
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.
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]