Sanga, Mahela and Mathews in the lead

As the final wave of voting for the CEAT ‘People’s Player of the Year’ gained momentum ahead of today’s close, three national cricketing stars had surged ahead of the field and were in hot pursuit of the coveted award, organisers of the contest said.

The national team’s iconic batting duo Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena and the exciting all-rounder Angelo Mathews had emerged as the top contenders in the SMS hustings, a spokesman for CEAT Sri Lanka announced on Thursday.

Dubbed as a contest that pits ‘Best vs. Best’ the CEAT ‘People’s Player of the Year’ contest is conducted in association with the annual CEAT Sri Lanka Cricket Awards.

Twenty two cricketers on contract with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) are eligible to receive votes for this prestigious award, which will be presented at this year’s awards ceremony scheduled for 4 October 2010 at Waters Edge.

“The public response in the form of thousands of SMS votes, now being counted by independent auditors, has been very encouraging,” said Ravi Dadlani, CEAT Sri Lanka’s General Manager Sales & Marketing. “We expect the voting to significantly surpass last year’s numbers.”

Voting opened on Friday 10 September and will close today, 1 October 2010. Voting may be done via five mobile networks – Dialog, Etisalat, Mobitel, Hutch and Airtel – and the CDMA services of Lanka Bell, Suntel and SLT City Link.

All persons who vote for their favourite cricketer will go into a draw at the end of voting and 10 voters will win tickets to the grand 2010 CEAT Sri Lanka Cricket Awards gala at Waters Edge.

Sri Lanka’s dynamic top order batsman Tillekeratne Dilshan won the coveted CEAT ‘People’s Player of the Year’ award in 2009.

The nominees for this year’s award are Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Muttiah Muralitharan, Thilan Samaraweera, T. M. Dilshan, Nuwan Kulasekera, Angelo Mathews, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Thushara, Rangana Herath, Prasanna Jayawardena, Ajantha Mendis, Chamara Kapugedera, Lasith Malinga, Thilina Kandamby, Dilhara Fernando, Chamara Welagedera, Tharanga Paranavithana, Suraj Randhiv, Dinesh Chandimal, Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas.

CEAT partners Sri Lanka Cricket to conduct the annual CEAT Sri Lanka Cricket Awards that honour the country’s best cricketers for performances in domestic and international tournaments. CEAT also supports motor racing and football in Sri Lanka.

zMessenger facilitates CEAT award

The leading pioneers in mobile-based marketing solutions, zMessenger (Pvt) Ltd., partnered CEAT Sri Lanka for the ‘People’s Player of the Year.’

A total of 61 awards spanning 16 categories are to be presented at this dazzling event and the contestants were voted for via SMS which was facilitated exclusively by zMessenger.

Voters also stand a mind-boggling chance to triumph an invitation to the captivating star studded event. Further, 10 lucky winners will be exclusively invited.

Director Marketing Jayomi Lokuliyana said: “It’s a privilege to work together with CEAT on such heartening events in order to honor the Sri Lankan cricketers who have brought fame and glory to their motherland with their scintillating performance. Such events would help increase the performance of the players which would eventually lead the team to take a step higher to an international level.”