Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2018 Close conte

While S. Thomas’ College skipper and leg-spinner Dellon Peiris continues his stranglehold in the All-Island Schools category of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2018, Vihan Gunasekara of D.S. Senanayake College is showing rapid progress as the contest completes its 23rd week. 

Vihan indicated that he was on a mission two weeks ago and since then he has accelerated at great speed to come within sight of beating second-placed Sachin Silva of St. Peter’s College. Last week the deficit between Sachin and Vihan was 5,117 votes, and this week it has come down to 1,017 votes, showing that by next week more surprises can be expected. 

Meanwhile, Dellon continues to lead the list, taking his tally to 30,068 votes, after adding 1,368 combined votes, while maintaining a healthy lead of 11,271 votes over Sachin. Sachin on the other hand makes his usual journey by adding 921 combined votes to reach 18,797 votes. The gap between Dellon and Vihan is 12,288 votes and with three more counts remaining, the race promises to be very exciting. The rest of the lineup in the category remains unchanged. 

Denuwan Perera of Carey College continues to lead the Emerging Schools category with a tally of 16,961 votes, with the addition of 1,217 votes. But he seems to be in a bit of trouble with the progress of Kenula Gunaratne of St. Aloysius College, Ratnapura. Kenula has been making a gradual improvement during the past couple of weeks with his progress and by the end of this weekend he closes the gap on Denuwan to 1,829 votes. Last week the deficit was 3,147 votes. 

Sonara Karunathunga and Thimira Malshan, both of Ananda Sasthralaya, are in third and fourth positions respectively. Kavindu Shilpage of Siri Piyarathana Padukka emerged with a good collection of combined votes to push away Heshan Madushanka of Piliyandala Central to claim the fifth spot this week. 

Harshitha Samarawickrama of Anula Vidyalaya continues to lead the Girls’ Schools category and she continues to impress with a handsome addition of 3,670 combined votes, which will easily secure her stranglehold on proceedings. Harshitha’s tally reaches 17,889 and she stands 9,788 votes ahead of Pabasara Ranabahu of Rathnavali Girls’ School Gampaha. Pabasara takes her tally to 8,101 votes. Kaveesha Dilhani of Devapathiraja MV, Rathgama and Ruwini Nandasena of St. Joseph’s Girls’ School are the other two contenders on the list. 

Coupons and online votes 

Coupons will be published in the two English dailies the Daily Mirror and the Daily FT, and the two Sinhala dailies Daily Lankadeepa and Ada, and Sinhala weekend newspaper Deshaya, with the deadline set to arrive after 11 more weekends. Readers can vote for their favourite schoolboy or schoolgirl cricketer and take them to the winning post during this period. 

Dialog Axiata’s online system to vote for the Most Popular Cricketer (www.dialog.lk/cricket) will allow voting until 5 April 2018. 

Both coupon votes and online votes will be counted on a weekly basis and the official results will be published in the five newspapers and their websites. 

The deadline for coupons and online votes will be every Thursday afternoon. Online votes received after the weekly cut-off period 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 23 

All-Island Schools 

Dellon Peiris S. Thomas’ College 30,068 

Sachin Silva St. Peter’s College 18,797 

Vihan Gunasekara D.S. Senanayake College 17,780 

Asel Sigera Ananda College 3,139 

Kavin Peiris Lumbini College 1,277 

Dulaj Bandara Dharmaraja College 1,265 

Kalana Perera S. Thomas’ College 805 

Mahesh Theekshana St. Benedict’s College 676 

Dinidu Wijewardene Nalanda College 547 

Ravindu Fernando Maris Stella College 515 

Kalana Wijesiri Ananda College 137 

Emerging Schools 

Denuwan Perera Carey College 16,961 

Kenula Gunaratne St. Aloysius Ratnapura 15,133 

Sonara Karunathunga Ananda Sasthralaya 5,752 

Thimira Malshan Ananda Sasthralaya 2,730 

Kavindu Shilpage Siri Piyarathana Padukka 2,637 

Heshan Madushanka Piliyandala Central 2,165 

Saliya Jeewantha Eheliyagoda Central 454 

Pulitha Yasas Sri Sumangala Panadura 255 

Pathum Hasaranga Vidyaloka Galle 255 

Girls’ School 

Harshitha Samarawickrama Anula Vidyalaya 17,889 

Pabasara Ranabahu Rathnavali GS, Gampaha 8,101 

Kaveesha Dilhari Devapathiraja, Rathgama 62 

Ruwini Nandasena St. Joseph’s Girls School 28 

Readers prizes go to: 1. S.A. Saryanantha, 9 Hekitta Lane, Wattala, 2. Upul Darshana, 47/5, Konawatta, Bemmulla, 3. Chintha Fernando, 13, Modarawila Road, Panadura, 4. Hansani Ranaweera, 55/D/1, Uruwal Mawatha, Kirillawala, Kadawatha.