Kavin Peiris of Lumbini steps up
As the second week’s results of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2018 contest are unveiled, Kavin Peiris of Lumbini College takes the stage of the All-Island Schools category. Kavin takes the lead overnight from Sachin Silva of St. Peter’s College with a tally of 75 votes, solely received within the ended week.
Sachin drops down to second place despite moving up his tally to 69, as Dulaj Bandara of Dharmaraja College moved down to the third position with a tally of 46. Kalana Perera of S. Thomas’ College sits at fourth position followed by Sachin Ravindu of St. Joseph’s College.
The Emerging Schools category, where players of Division II and III cricket playing schools get to come among the top, was initiated by Pulitha Yasas Sri Sarathchandra of Sri Sumangala College Panadura. He holds on to the top position followed by Sonara Karunarathunga of Ananda Sasthralaya Kotte.
The newly introduced Girls’ Schools category is yet to kick off. The nature of the race to the top could definitely hit a peak as weeks progress with 25 more weekends to go before it comes to an interesting end.
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.
All schools competing in the ongoing 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 Emerging Schools. The 32 girls schools will come under the Girls category. This method will be effect to the selections as well as for choosing the most popular schoolboy cricketer.
Coupons will be published from October 1 in the Sunday Times and it will follow throughout the week in the two English dailies, the Daily Mirror and DailyFT, and the two Sinhala dailies, Daily Lankadeepa and Ada and Sinhala Weekend, Deshaya. Coupons will run for 26 weeks with the deadline set for April 5, 2018. Readers could vote for their favourite schoolboy or schoolgirl cricketer and take them to the winning post during this period.
In addition Dialog Axiata’s online voting system through their official Online Portal to vote for the Most Popular Cricketer (www.dialog.lk/cricket/register), will come alive from October 1 with player registrations.
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 – from October 1 to November 30. 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 scrutinised of their eligibility and entered to the online voting mechanism from November 1, while the customary voting through coupons will be still on. From November 1, the Online Portal will be open for voting while online registration will be still accepted up to November 30. 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 from November 1 to April 5, 2018.
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.
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
Kavin Peiris Lumbini College 75
Sachin Silva St. Peter’s College 69
Dulaj Bandara Dharmaraja College 46
Kalana Perera S. Thomas’ College 25
Sachin Ravindu St. Joseph’s College 10
Dellon Peiris S. Thomas’ College 9
Nimnaka Jayathilake St. Anthony’s College 8
Kalana Wijesiri Ananda College 7
Emerging Schools
Name School
Pulitha Yasas Sri Sumangala Panadura 49
Sonara Karunathunga Ananda Sasthralaya 13
Readers prizes go to: 1. Shanthi Rajaratnam, 12-1/2, Castle Court, Castle Lane, Bambalapitiya, 2. Rozanne Amath, 40/41, Katuwawela Road, Maharagama, 3. Duleetha Priyankara, 121, Thalawathugoda Road, Pitakotte, 4. F. Nanayakkara, 395, Madawala Road, Katugastota.