Churchill Gunasekara

Dr Churchill Hector Gunasekara (July 27, 1894 - May 16, 1969) was a Ceylonese first-class cricketer. He was the first person from his country to play for an English county, representing Middlesex from 1919 to 1922. He was widely regarded as the best fielder in county cricket at the time.

Churchill Gunasekara
Personal information
Full nameChurchill Hector Gunasekara
Born(1894-07-27)27 July 1894
Colombo, Ceylon
Died16 May 1969(1969-05-16) (aged 74)
Nawala, Ceylon
BattingRight-handed batsman
BowlingRight-arm medium pace
RoleAll-rounder
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1910-1912Royal College, Colombo
1919-1922Middlesex
1927-1935Ceylon
Career statistics
Competition FC
Matches 51
Runs scored 957
Batting average 15.68
100s/50s 0/6
Top score 88*
Balls bowled 6439
Wickets 90
Bowling average 31.94
5 wickets in innings 4
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 5-15
Catches/stumpings 33/0
Source: CricketArchive, October 3 1935

Gunasekara was educated at Royal College in Colombo where he was captain of the cricket team and achieved colours in both athletics and football. He moved to England in order to study medicine at Cambridge University and excelled again at sports, only missing out on a Blue due to the outbreak of the War.[1]

In 1919 he made his first-class debut for Middlesex and went on to have a good all-round Championship season, with 36 wickets at 27.72 and 351 runs at 21.93.[2] Despite batting at nine, he top scored for Middlesex in the first innings of their match against Surrey at Kennington Oval with 88 not out.[3] His best performance with the ball came against Lancashire where he dismissed their last five batsmen to finish with 5/15.[4]

The following summer he was part of Middlesex's successful campaign for the 1920 County Championship. He didn't play at all in 1921 but returned in 1922 for one final season.

Having completed his degree, Gunasekara returned to Ceylon and became captain of his country's cricket team. He captained Ceylon's first overseas touring team, to India in 1932-33, but was called back to Ceylon during the tour in his capacity as Chief Medical Officer of Health, Colombo Municipality, in order to deal with a smallpox outbreak, and was absent during the two matches against India, when Ed Kelaart captained the team in his absence.[5] He played 10 first-class matches in total for various Ceylonese representative sides and also captained one in a non-first-class fixture against Don Bradman's Australians.[6][7]

He also represented Ceylon at tennis, playing against the visiting New Zealanders who were on their way to England in 1933 to play in the Davis Cup.[8]

Gunasekara's son Channa and four of his nephews, including C. I. Gunesekera, also played first-class cricket for Ceylon.

References
  1. "Flamboyant Colombo and CH Gunasekara". Cricinfo.
  2. "Averages by Team County Championship 1919". CricketArchive.
  3. "Surrey v Middlesex 1919". CricketArchive.
  4. "Lancashire v Middlesex 1919". CricketArchive.
  5. S. S. Perera, The Janashakthi Book of Sri Lanka Cricket (1832–1996), Janashakthi Insurance, Colombo, 1999, pp. 170-71.
  6. "First-Class Matches played by Churchill Gunasekara". CricketArchive.
  7. "The story of Churchill Hector Gunasekera". Cricinfo.
  8. S. S. Perera, p. 441.
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