Countdown begins for Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy, Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2018

The Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2018 competition officially kicks off today, with the Sunday Times carrying the first printed coupon which its readers can use to pick their favourite schoolboy and schoolgirl cricketer and most popular schoolboy cricketer of 2018. 

In the newest edition of the competition a new category has been introduced for schoolgirl cricketers, taking this competition to another level. While adding glamour to the annual competition, this will surely boost the morale of the schoolgirl cricketers of the 32 competing schools. The competition will have its usual two segments - the All-Island Schools and Emerging Schools - toward which the bulk of the attention of the whole competition will be drawn. 

As is customary, the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy-Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2018 competition will have coupons in selected Wijeya Newspapers publications - the Sunday Times, Daily Lankadeepa, Daily Mirror, Ada, Daily FT and Sinhala weekend newspaper Deshaya, from tomorrow onwards, to make the competition more interactive. Coupons will run for 26 weeks with the deadline set for 30 April 2018. 

This will be the second year of the partnership between Wijeya Newspapers and Dialog Axiata, the No. 1 mobile service provider in the country, coming out to recognise the deserving talents of school cricket. 

The whole competition, leading up to the gala awards ceremony, will have additional glitz, glamour and events, with more features and upgraded features. 

Besides the main awards to be picked by an expert selection panel, under the patronage of the Sunday Times and Dialog, as introduced last year, it will take the Most Popular Schoolboy-Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2018 to the next level via digital and social media. 

Dialog Axiata’s online voting system through its official online portal to vote for the Most Popular Cricketer (www.dialog.lk/cricket) came alive yesterday. There will be a different method to follow in the digital process of voting for the Most Popular Schoolboy-Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year. 

Players who have represented their respective school in First XI cricket and either scored 400 runs and above or taken 25 wickets and above, in the last season, will become automatically eligible for the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2018 competition. Schools have been grouped under three categories - All-Island, Emerging and Girls Schools - according to the segmentation process of the Sri Lanka School Cricket Association (SLSCA). 

All schools competing at the ongoing inter-school division I tournament will be categorised under the All-Island Schools, while the remaining schools competing under the Division II and III categories, will come under the Emerging Schools category. The 32 girls’ schools will come under the girls’ category. 

This method will be effective for the selections as well as for picking The Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer. 

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 at www.dialog.lk/cricket/register beginning from yesterday to 30 November. 

Even school 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 SLSCA, with a valid registration number. Players without a valid SLSCA registration 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 October will have their eligibility officially scrutinised and entered into the online voting mechanism from 1 November, while the customary voting through coupons will be still on. 

From 1 November the online portal will be open for voting, while online registration will still be accepted up to 30 November. During November, the names of registered players will be released weekly, every Wednesday, while the cut-off date for weekly scrutinising will be the previous Friday of each week. Online voting will be open from 1 November to 30 April 2018. 

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

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

The first week’s results of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2018 will be published next Sunday.