William Lankham

A tall, strongly-built right-arm opening bowler,[1] Lankham had an outstanding season for the Auckland United club in 1880-81, taking 84 wickets at an average of 3.32, helping Auckland United to an undefeated season.[2] He played for the Auckland XXII against the touring English team in 1881-82, taking 3 for 69 off 87 four-ball overs. The English captain, Alfred Shaw, regarded Lankham as the best bowler the tourists faced in New Zealand.[1]

He played his first first-class match in December 1882 for Auckland against Canterbury in Christchurch. He took 7 for 39 in Canterbury's first innings; on the second day, which was also his 21st birthday, he made the second-top score in Auckland's first innings with 27, batting at number ten; then he took 4 for 60. Canterbury nevertheless won by 27 runs.[3] Auckland then travelled to Wellington, where Lankham took 3 for 28 and 4 for 41 in an Auckland victory.[4] The team then crossed Cook Strait again to play Nelson. In a match in which 40 wickets fell for 370 runs, Lankham took 6 for 18 and 4 for 39, and Auckland won by four runs after the Nelson last-wicket pair had put on 50, the highest partnership of the match.[5]

Three months later Taranaki travelled to Auckland to play their initial first-class match, but Lankham was too much for them, bowling unchanged to take 13 for 35 (7 for 13 and 6 for 22) and dismiss Taranaki for 63 and 55 to give Auckland an innings victory.[6] Lankham finished the season as the leading wicket-taker in New Zealand with 41 wickets at an average of 6.34.[7]

In 1883-84 Auckland played only one first-class match, against Canterbury in Auckland. Lankham bowled for most of the first innings and unchanged in the second to take 6 for 60 and 6 for 54, and Auckland won by four wickets.[8] He never played again, and died from tuberculosis two days before his 25th birthday.[9]

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