Sukhitha Manoj – the first to cross four figures

Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2019 

Within a matter of five weeks Sukhitha Manoj of St. Sebastian’s College Moratuwa takes the honour of surpassing the milestone of 1,000 votes as he stamps the authority of as the leader of the pack of the All-Island Schools category of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2019 contest. 

Manoj added 360 votes in the ended week to reach 1,116 votes and take a healthy lead of 791 against second placed Lakshitha Rasanjana of Nalanda College. Rasanjana added 161 votes in the ended week and his tally reads as 325. Behind him is Abhishek Kumara of Trinity College, who takes his tally to 145 while Sri Lanka Under-19 cap, Navod Paranavithana of Mahinda College, debuts at No.4 with 77 votes. 

At fifth is Ravindu Fernando of Maris Stella College, who is one vote behind Navod. The list of contenders has expanded to 18 from 13 this week with the inclusion of Navod, Shehan Fernando of St. Benedict’s, K.A.L.C. Warnakulasuriya of St. Anne’s Kurunegala, Yasitha Samararathne of Dharmaraja and Nihisal Vidanapathirana of St. Thomas’ Matara. 

For the first time in four weeks, a change of hands in the leadership has taken place in the Emerging Schools category with Vishal Rukshan of St. Peter’s College pushing down Thanusha Sandaruwan of St. John’s College Nugegoda, to second spot. Vishal added 300 and took his tally to 543 while Thanusha too did well to receive 246 and bolster his total to 496. The difference between both is a mere 47 and if the competition between heats up in the coming weeks, an exciting duel can be expected. Lithija Kalhara of Ananda Maithree NS Balangoda and Sachin Jayasinghe of Royal College Panadura follow. 

The Girls’ Schools category, which was introduced to the ever popular competition in the country last season, had a solo run for four weeks, but not anymore. Sathya Sadeepani of Devapathiraja College Rathgama makes her debut with 33 votes to push down Sithmi Nirasha of Anula Vidyalaya Nugegoda to second spot. The difference between the two is just five votes apart, but in weeks to come both are certainly to have more rivalry from other contenders who have already shown interest. 

The nature of the race to the top could definitely hit a peak as weeks progress with 22 more weekends to go before it comes to an interesting end. Coupons will be published in the Sunday Times, the two English dailies, the Daily Mirror and Daily FT, and the two Sinhala dailies, Daily Lankadeepa and Ada and Sinhala Weekend, Deshaya. From this year coupons will also come will out in the Tamil Mirror. Readers could vote for their favourite schoolboy or schoolgirl cricketer and take them to the winning post during this period before the deadline of 26 weeks come to an end. 

In addition Dialog Axiata’s online voting system through their official Online Portal to vote for the Most Popular Cricketer (www.dialog.lk/cricket), will come alive from next week. Players of all categories, including those already in the fray through coupons, should register themselves following the link -- www.dialog.lk/cricket/register. The method to follow in the digital registration process has been made simple for schoolboys and schoolgirls. Already a good number of players have registered and their names will be published in weeks to come after necessary verification. 

Players who have represented their respective school in First XI cricket and with a tally of 400 or above runs or 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 2018 competition. Schools have been categorised under three categories -- the All-Island, Emerging and Girls schools, according to the segmentation process of Sri Lanka School Cricket Association. 

Online registration 

The digital voting mechanism will have its usual 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 with – www.dialog.lk/cricket/register. 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 the month of October will be officially scrutinized of their eligibility and entered to the online voting mechanism, while the customary voting through coupons will be still on. From late November, the Online Portal will be open for voting while online registration will be still accepted. During the month of November, the names of registered players will be released weekly, every Wednesday while the cutoff date for weekly scrutinising will be the previous Friday of each week. Online voting will be open November to 31 March 2019.

Both coupon votes and online votes will be counted on a weekly basis and the official results published every week beginning next Sunday in the five newspapers and its websites, as well as that of Dialog Axiata’s Online Portal. 

The deadline for coupons will be every Thursday noon while the weekly cutoff for online votes will be every Wednesday noon. Online votes received after the weekly cutoff time will be counted for the next week, while for coupons, only those numbered for the particular week will be taken into count. 

All-Island Schools 

Name School 

Sukhitha Manoj St. Sebastian’s College Moratuwa 1,116 

Lakshitha Rasanjana Nalanda College 325 

Abhishek Ananda Trinity College 145 

Navod Paranavithana Mahinda College 77 

Ravindu Fernando Maris Stella College 76 

Nishan Madushka Moratu Vidyalaya 67 

Pasindu Ushetti Maris Stella College 60 

Shehan Fernando St. Benedict’s College 55 

Nuwanidu Fernando St. Sebastian’s College Moratuwa 51 

Randheer Ranasinghe St. Anne’s College Kurunegala 33 

K.A.L.C. Warnakulasuriya St. Anne’s College Kurunegala 32 

Sandun Mendis Richmond College 23 

Yasitha Samararathne Dharmaraja College 20 

Dinitha Prabhanaka Devapathiraja College Rathgama 17 

Kanishka Ranthilakage Ananda College 8 

Kalana Perera S. Thomas’ College 3 

Pasindu Bandara Trinity College 2 

Nihisal Vidanapathirana St. Thomas’ College Matara 2 

Emerging Schools 

Name School 

Vishal Ruskhan St. Peter’s College Gampaha 543 

Thanusha Sandaruwan St. John’s College Nugegoda 496 

Lithija Kalhara Ananda Maithree, Balangoda 116 

Sachin Jayasinghe Royal College Panadura 33 

Girls’ Schools 

Sathya Sandeepani Devapathiraja College Ratgama 33 

Sithmi Nirasha Anula Vidyalaya Nugegoda 28 

Readers prizes go to: 1. Ainsley Wambeek, 14, Lanka Matha Road, Ragama, 2. Padma Karunatilleke, 475/5, Thimbirigasyaya Road, Colombo 5, 3. Inoka Priyadarshani, 174/3, Kandevihara Road, Opanayake, 4. K.A.J.R. Fernando, 217/12, Jayasinghe Place, Hendala Wattala.