Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Monday, 30 October 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Sachin Silva’s dominance in the All-Island Schools category continued for another week, as the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2018 completed its fourth week. However, Sachin, who is from St. Peter’s College, could find a close rival in Dellon Peiris of S. Thomas’ College, who jumped from ninth place to second in a matter of a week.
Sachin had his count swell by a further 146 votes, as his total moved up to 271, but Dellon was the best performer for the week. The Thomian all-rounder received 204 votes during the fourth week and his count rocketed from 9 to 213, enabling him to snatch the second slot.
The deficit between the top two is 58 and it could be a matter of few weeks until both competitors engage in a close off-field tussle.
Kavin Pieris of Lumbini College made a surprising entry into the competition a couple of weeks back by dethroning Sachin to take the top spot, but after three weeks he slipped down to third place. His tally moved up to 161, after he secured 56 more votes in the past week. Dulaj Bandara of Dharmaraja College also lost a place as a result of Dellon’s rise, and is currently in fourth position with a tally of 104 votes. He received 40 votes for this week.
Kalana Perera, the second Thomian on the list, is in fifth position with a tally of 65 votes and one vote behind him is Ravindu Fernando of Maris Stella College. In total the list of competitors stretched out to 14 this week.
In the Emerging Schools segment, Pulitha Yasas of Sri Sumangala College Panadura remains in the lead for the fourth week running. He may have a rivalry in the weeks to come with Sonara Karunathunga of Ananda Sastralaya Kotte, who is 18 votes behind.
The newly-introduced Girls’ Schools category kicked off with Kaveesha Dilhari of Devapathiraja College Rathgama registering 37 votes. Kaveesha is also a member of the Sri Lanka Women’s Development Squad.
Players who have represented their respective school in First XI cricket and who possess a tally of 400 or more runs or 25 or more wickets in the previous season will be automatically eligible for the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2018 competition.
Schools have been categorised in three categories - All-Island, Emerging and Girls Schools - according to the segmentation process of the Sri Lanka School Cricket Association.
All schools competing in the ongoing Inter-School Division I tournament will be categorised under the All-Island Schools category while the remaining schools, competing under the Division II and III categories, will come under the Emerging Schools bracket. The 32 girls’ schools will come under the Girls’ Schools category. This method will be in effect for the selections as well as for choosing the Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer.
Coupons will be published in the Sunday Times and will be available throughout the week in the two English dailies, the Daily Mirror and Daily FT, and the two Sinhala dailies, Daily Lankadeepa and Ada, and Sinhala weekend newspaper Deshaya. Coupons will be available for 26 weeks with the deadline set for 5 April 2018. Readers can vote for their favourite schoolboy or schoolgirl cricketer and take them to the winning post during this period.
In addition, votes for the Most Popular Cricketer can be cast through Dialog Axiata’s online voting system (www.dialog.lk/cricket/register).
The digital voting mechanism will follow the procedure as last season where all players must register online. Players who wish to enter the fray will have to confirm their participation by registering online at www.dialog.lk/cricket/register until 30 November.
Even schoolboy cricketers whose names are entered into the competition by readers must register before that deadline. To validate their registration, players should also be registered under the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA) with a valid registration number. Players without a valid registration from SLSCA will not be included in any category of the Most Popular competition. The decision of the Sports Editor of the Sunday Times will be final.
Players who register online during October will have their eligibility officially scrutinised and entered into the online voting mechanism from 1 November, while the customary voting through coupons will still be on. From 1 November the online portal will be open for voting while online registration will be still accepted until 30 November.
During November, the names of registered players will be released every Wednesday while the cutoff date will be the previous Friday of each week. Online voting will be open from 1 November to 5 April 2018.
Both coupon votes and online votes will be counted on a weekly basis and the official results will be published every week.
The deadline for coupons will be noon every Thursday while the weekly cutoff for online votes will be noon every Wednesday. Online votes received after the weekly cutoff time will be counted for the next week, while only those coupons numbered for the particular week will be taken into count.
All-Island Schools Name School
Emerging Schools
Girls’ Schools
Readers prizes go to:
1. B.K. Goonasekara, 26/1, Station Lane, Nugegoda, 2. Milan Alahakoon, 175/17J, Weera Mawatha, Depanama, Pannipitiya, 3. Nathan Amath, 40/41, Katuwawela Road, Maharagama, 4. Faleel Booso, 443/02, St. Rita’s Road, Daluwakotuwa, Kochchikade.
