| C. I. Gunasekera | |
| Country: | Sri Lanka |
| Fullname: | Conroy Ievers Gunasekera |
| Birth Date: | 14 July 1920 |
| Birth Place: | Ceylon |
| Death Place: | Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Batting: | Right-handed |
| Bowling: | Right-arm leg-spin and googly |
| Columns: | 1 |
| Column1: | First-class |
| Matches1: | 22 |
| Runs1: | 1266 |
| Bat Avg1: | 37.23 |
| 100S/50S1: | 3/4 |
| Top Score1: | 212 |
| Deliveries1: | 2790 |
| Wickets1: | 53 |
| Bowl Avg1: | 23.64 |
| Fivefor1: | 2 |
| Tenfor1: | 2 |
| Best Bowling1: | 8/69 |
| Catches/Stumpings1: | 15/– |
| Date: | 28 March 2020 |
| Source: | https://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/49075.html Cricinfo |
Conroy Ievers Gunasekera, sometimes spelt Gunasekara (14 July 1920 – 29 July 2010) was a Sri Lankan cricketer who played first-class cricket for Ceylon from 1949 to 1964, in the period before the country gained Test status. He captained Ceylon several times in the early 1960s.[1]
Gunasekera was educated at Royal College Colombo where he played in the Royal-Thomian encounter, starting from 1938. He entered Colombo Law College in 1940, but interrupted his legal studies to join the Ceylon Defence Force as a Second Lieutenant during World War II.[2]
He started playing cricket for the Sinhalese Sports Club under the captaincy of Fredrick C. de Saram.[2] Thereafter Gunasekera went on to play for the Ceylon team. He also represented the Commonwealth, scoring a hundred in the match Commonwealth v MCC, when he took part in a partnership of 207 with the Australian all-rounder Keith Miller.[1] He brought up his century with a six, and Miller did the same shortly afterwards.[3] Up until the 1980s he played for the SSC.
His highest first-class score was 212 for Ceylon against Madras in the annual Gopalan Trophy match in 1958–59.[1] He scored 120 and 30 against Pakistan in 1948–49.[4] With his leg-spin he took 8 for 69 and 2 for 78 for a Ceylon team against a strong Pakistan Combined Services team in 1953-54[5] and 7 for 63 and 3 for 91 for Ceylon against Mysore in 1957–58.[6]
David Sheppard described him as "a great cricketer who would surely have played Test cricket if he had qualified for another country ... a fine, forcing batsman, driving with great power, and a good leg-spin bowler".[7]
Gunasekera joined Walker & Sons Limited as a manager and went on to serve as a director.[2] His uncle was Dr Churchill Gunasekara, who also captained the Ceylon cricket team.