Dellon keeps ticking along

Dellon Peiris, the left-arm spinner from S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, moves ahead as the leader of the All-Island Schools category at the end of 12th week of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2018 competition. 

Dellon takes his tally to 11,769, after adding 1,749 combined votes during the ended week, and leads his immediate rival Sachin Silva by 5,444 votes. Sachin of St. Peter’s College added 1,256 combined votes and took his final count to 6,325. 

But the true performer of the previous week was Vihan Gunasekara of D.S. Senanayake College. With 2,991 combined votes, the most number of votes for the week, Vihan moved to third place dislodging Ananda College skipper Asel Sigera to fourth position. 

Last week Vihan, now with a total of 4,311 votes, advanced to fourth from sixth, and with this week’s progress, he clearly has the opportunity to challenge Sachin and even Dellon, with 14 more weeks to go. The list of competitors remains at 21 and only the names of players who have obtained over 30 votes is published. 

Denuwan Perera of Carey College, who claimed the top spot in the Emerging Schools category last week, further cemented his status by taking his total to 4,787. The past week gave Denuwan an addition of 980 combined votes, the best in this segment, as he leads the new occupant at second place, by 1,978 votes. 

Second place now belongs to Kenula Gunaratne of St. Aloysius College Ratnapura, who added 707 combined votes to push down former leader Sonara Karunathunga to third place. Kenula made his progress gradually and has created the potential for an intense battle with Denuwan. 

Sonara of Ananda Sasthralaya meanwhile slid down to third place. He added 434 votes during the previous week and now has 2,771 total votes. He trails Kenula by just 38 votes and a slight acceleration could put him back on his path to the top. 

Harshitha Samarawickrama of Anula Vidyalaya continues to lead the Girls’ category, maintaining her lead of 1,470 votes over Pabasara Ranabahu of Rathnavali Girls’ School Gampaha. Harshitha’s total count reached 4,082 this week as Pabasara maintained her progress with a tally of 2,612 votes. Kaveesha Dilhani of Devapathiraja MV, Rathgama and Ruwini Nandasena of St. Joseph’s Girls’ School are the other two contenders on the list. 

Online registration ends this weekend

Coupons will be published in the Sunday Times and will be available throughout the week in the two English dailies, the Daily Mirror and Daily FT, and the two Sinhala dailies, Daily Lankadeepa and Ada, and Sinhala weekend newspaper Deshaya. Coupons will be available for 26 weeks with the deadline set for 5 April 2018. Readers can vote for their favourite schoolboy or schoolgirl cricketer and take them to the winning post during this period. 

In addition, votes for the Most Popular Cricketer can be cast through Dialog Axiata’s online voting system (www.dialog.lk/cricket/register). 

The online registration process ended on 30 November, but due to popular demand, registrations will be extended until 31 December. Players who wish to enter the fray will have to confirm their participation by registering online at www.dialog.lk/cricket/register. Even schoolboy cricketers whose names are entered into the competition by readers must register before that deadline. 

The names of players who registered online will be officially scrutinised for their eligibility and entered into the online voting mechanism, while the customary voting through coupons will still be on. The online portal is open for voting while online registration will be accepted up to 31 December. 

The names of registered players will be released every Friday after the cut-off date of Wednesday for weekly scrutiny each week until the deadline. Online voting will be open until 5 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 respective websites. 

The deadline for coupons will be noon every Thursday while the weekly cut-off for online votes will be noon every 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. This week’s digital voting count was monitored and approved by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

Results: Week 12

All-Island Schools 

Dellon Peiris S. Thomas’ College 11,769 

Sachin Silva St. Peter’s College 6,325 

Vihan Gunasekara D.S. Senanayake College 4,311 

Asel Sigera Ananda College 2,243 

Kavin Peiris Lumbini College 1,253 

Dulaj Bandara Dharmaraja College 821 

Kalana Perera S. Thomas’ College 490 

Mahesh Theekshana St. Benedict’s College 423 

Dinidu Wijewardene Nalanda College 313 

Ravindu Fernando Maris Stella College 235 

Kalana Wijesiri Ananda College 115 

Yasitha Samararathne Dharmaraja College 61 

Emerging Schools 

Denuwan Perera Carey College 4,787 

Kenula Gunaratne St Aloysius Ratnapura 2,809 

Sonara Karunathunga Ananda Sasthralaya 2,771 

Thimira Malshan Ananda Sasthralaya 2,031 

Heshan Madushanka Piliyandala Central 1,682 

Pulitha Yasas Sri Sumangala Panadura 255 

Saliya Jeewantha Eheliyagoda Central 151 

Pathum Hasaranga Vidyaloka Galle 94 

Girl’s competition 

Harshitha Samarawickrama Anula Vidyalaya 4,082 

Pabasara Ranabahu Rathnavali GS, Gampaha 2,612 

Kaveesha Dilhari Devapathiraja, Rathgama 57 

Ruwini Nandasena St. Joseph’s Girls School 8 

Readers prizes go to: 1. Sahan Deshapriya, BG 1, Vithanage Mawatha, Colombo 2. 2. Jayanthi Rodrigo, 106/32A, Uyana Road, Moratuwa, 3. Sriyani Kariyakarawana, ‘Nimal Sevana’ Pahala Imbulgoda, Imbulgoda, 4. E.K. Jayani, 222, Pragathipura, Madiwala, Kotte. 

(Those who receive over 50 accumulated votes in the boy’s category are depicted on the list).