Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy /Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year Search for 2019 winner begins

The first coupon of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2019 came out yesterday. 

The competition, as initiated last year, will officially kick off from this week, with the commencement of the Singer Inter-School Cricket Tournament 2018/2019, as the performances of players and teams will be thoroughly observed until the end of the season. This will make the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year, run along with the First XI cricket season as last year. 

Concurrently, as anticipated, voting for the Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer and Most Popular Schoolgirl Cricketer started yesterday and will continue for 26 consecutive weeks. 

As such, coupons will be made available to readers to vote for their favourite schoolboy or schoolgirl cricketer, with the first appearing in the English weekend Sunday Times. Coupons will be continuously published for 26 weeks in the Sunday Times, English dailies Daily Mirror, Daily FT and Sinhala dailies Lankadeepa and Ada. This year there will be two new additions to the fleet of Wijeya Newspapers publications with Tamil Mirror and Deshaya coming on board to give the ‘Most Popular’ competition far more reach. 

In addition, Dialog Axiata will open its web portal - www.dialog.lk/cricket - for supporters to vote for their favourite schoolboy or schoolgirl cricketer beginning yesterday. Like last season, there will be a different method to follow the digital process of voting for the favourite schoolboy or schoolgirl cricketer to make them the Most Popular winner. 

As usual schoolboy cricketers will come under different categories, mainly All-Island and Emerging. All schools competing in the ongoing Singer Inter-School Division I tournament will be categorised under the All-Island Schools while the remaining schools, competing under Division II and III categories, will come under the Emerging Schools category. 

Last year the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year turned a new leaf by becoming the first to add the Girls’ category. Schoolgirl cricketers were acknowledged at the glittering awards ceremony held at the BMICH in addition to awarding the ‘Most Popular Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2018’ for the very first time in history. This year too the competition will be open to schoolgirls and supporters to see their favourite cricketer from girls’ schools being crowned as the queen of cricket. 

Eligibility, online voting and player registration 

As usual players who have represented their respective school in First XI cricket and with a tally of 400 or above runs and 25 wickets or above in the last season will be automatically eligible for the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2019 competition. 

However, this restriction will not affect the schoolgirl cricketers. However, players who wish to enter the fray will have to confirm their participation by registering online at www.dialog.lk/cricket. 

Even schoolboy and schoolgirl cricketers whose names are entered into the competition by readers through coupons must register. Online registration is now on. The closing date for online registrations for the Most Popular Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Cricketer 2019 will be 16 November 2018. 

Players joining the Most Popular competition should also be registered under the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association and should bear a valid registration number. Players who register online will have their eligibility officially scrutinised and will be entered into the online voting mechanism, while the customary voting through coupons will still be on. The online voting will be available from 21 November 2018 to 31 March 2019. 

At the same time readers who help the young cricketers reach the helm this season will also be rewarded on a weekly basis. As in the past two years, Dialog Axiata will be generous in giving out gifts to four lucky winners among the voters, encouraging readers to be more attached to the contest as well as the future cricketing talents of Sri Lanka. 

Besides the Most Popular competition, all focus will be on who will become the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2019, which is the main feature of the entire process. Award-winners will solely be selected based on their performances and what matters at end of the day will be the amount of energy they dish out as batsmen, bowlers, fielders and all-rounders. 

The judges of the selection panel of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year, belonging to different components of the local cricketing structure, will be observing the talents of the youngsters during the ongoing school cricket season. 

The engagements of the Sri Lanka Under-19 team, which is made up of the best among schoolboy cricketers of the island, too will be followed closely by them. The schoolgirls too will be watched closely on how they perform at the tournaments conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association. This will be to pick the deserving talents at the final selection which will be held soon after the conclusion of the school cricket season and duly honour them at the end of the season. 

Special message from the organisers 

The organising committee of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year is pleased to announce that from the year 2019 onwards, the winner of the coveted title ‘Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year’ will be given the opportunity to extend his cricketing skills via an overseas training at a Tier 1 rated cricket academy. We wish all contenders for the prestigious Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2019, the very best for the ongoing school cricket tournament.