Nipun Malinga sits comfortably at the top
An addition of 3439 votes during the ended week has bolstered the stronghold of Sachin Dalpethado who leads the 36th Bata-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2015 for the ninth week running.
Sachin, the allrounder from St. Peter’s College Colombo now has a tally of 16098 votes and leads his closest rival in contention, Malinga Amarasinghe of Nalanda College by 5312 votes. Malinga, meanwhile has added 1424 votes to his tally, taking it past to 10786. He however leads St. Joseph’s College allrounder Aravinda Akurugoda by 6216 votes. The top two – Sachin and Malinga – are comfortable at their positions the way the competition is moving on at present. With three more weeks to go and unless a miracle takes place, the duo will stand tall above the rest with Sachin enjoying the most.
At fourth is Himesha Ranganath of Royal College Panadura with 2179 votes and his progress has virtually halted to a minimal. St. Joseph’s College skipper Pathum Madushanka, whose progress also has slowed down gradually, stands in at fifth with 1537 votes. The title holder of the competition, Randev Pathirana of Royal College Colombo, is at sixth and has a lot to improve if he is eyeing for a double. Next to him are Lakshan Rodrigo of St. Peter’s College, Charith Asalanka of Richmond College, Shehan Weerasinghe of Zahira College and Harith Samarasinghe of Royal College Colombo who remain unchanged in the top ten.
With Udith Dilsara of St. Peter’s College Negombo failing to provide a little extra pressure, Nipun Malinga of Vidyaloka College Galle still holds the leadership of the Emerging Schools category. Nipun did not add much to his tally from last week and so has not Udith, keeping the gap between them at 1448. Both are joined by a newcomer, Achintha Ushan, a team-mate of Nipun.
Sahan Thennakoon of Lyceum International Panadura still holds the lead of the International Schools segment but Shimraz Shahill of Alethea International School too seems not ready to give in. While Sahan added 500 to his tally Shimraz took his total forward by 298 votes. Sahan now has 2115 votes to his name as Shimraz’s count is 1437. Three more weeks of healthy competition, could possibly bring a change in this category.
Coupons of the 36th Bata-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2015 will appear on Wijeya Newspaper’s dailies, the Daily Mirror and Lankadeepa and also its weekend English issue, the Sunday Times and the Sinhala weekly Deshaya. Readers will be able to send in as much as coupons in favour of their favourite schoolboy cricketer until mid June.