 He was a left-arm medium pace bowler and took 235 first-class wickets with an average of 21.78 and a best performance of 8 for 26.Cunliffe also played non-first class county cricket for Shropshire, in two matches in 1895.Cunliffe became a Fellow of All Souls, Oxford and a lecturer in history at Oxford University and wrote "The History of the Boer War".