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

As 2017 ends Dellon Peiris leads the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2018 competition which reaches the end of its 13th week. 

Dellon, a leading leg-spinner from S. Thomas’ College, is maintaining a healthy pace and reached 13,386 combined votes, to lead the All-Island Schools category for yet another week. 

Dellon added 1,617 combined votes and enjoys a commanding lead of 5,874 votes over Sachin Silva. Sachin of St. Peter’s College also showed real potential, adding 1,187 combined votes to take his total to 7,512 votes. 

Vihan Gunasekara of D.S. Senanayake College remains in third position with a count of 4,464 votes, followed by Ananda College skipper Asel Sigera and Lumbini College’s Kavin Peiris. The rest of the 21 players on the points table are yet to hit the 1,000 mark and 11 of them are still to reach the 100 mark. 

Denuwan Perera of Carey College dominates the Emerging Schools category, taking his total to 6,034, after adding 1,247 combined votes in the previous week. Denuwan leads Kenula Gunaratne of St. Aloysius College Ratnapura by 2,377 votes, while moving further ahead without much trouble. The rivalry now shifts for the second, third and fourth slots, where the positions could easily change. 

Kenula takes his total to 3,657 and leads third-placed Sonara Karunathunga of Ananda Sasthralaya by 563 votes. Thimira Malshan, also of Ananda Sasthralaya, sits in fourth way behind teammate Sonara, while Heshan Madushanka of Piliyandala Central remains in fifth position, still threatening the others. 

Harshitha Samarawickrama of Anula Vidyalaya continues to lead the Girls’ category, maintaining a lead of 1,539 votes over Pabasara Ranabahu of Rathnavali Girls’ School Gampaha. Harshitha’s total count reached 4,433 this week as Pabasara maintained her progress with a tally of 2,894. 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

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. 

Dialog Axiata’s online voting system through their official online portal to vote for the Most Popular Cricketer (www.dialog.lk/cricket) is open for voting while online registration closed on 31 December. Players who wish to enter the fray must confirm their participation by registering online at www.dialog.lk/cricket/register. 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.

 All-Island Schools 

Dellon Peiris S. Thomas’ College 13,386 

Sachin Silva St. Peter’s College 7,512 

Vihan Gunasekara D.S. Senanayake College 4,464 

Asel Sigera Ananda College 2,395 

Kavin Peiris Lumbini College 1,254 

Dulaj Bandara Dharmaraja College 840 

Kalana Perera S. Thomas’ College 510 

Mahesh Theekshana St. Benedict’s College 450 

Dinidu Wijewardene Nalanda College 354 

Ravindu Fernando Maris Stella College 235 

Kalana Wijesiri Ananda College 122 

Yasitha Samararathne Dharmaraja College 61 

Emerging Schools 

Denuwan Perera Carey College 6,034 

Kenula Gunaratne St Aloysius Ratnapura 3,657 

Sonara Karunathunga Ananda Sasthralaya 3,094 

Thimira Malshan Ananda Sasthralaya 2,069 

Heshan Madushanka Piliyandala Central 1,809 

Pulitha Yasas Sri Sumangala Panadura 255 

Saliya Jeewantha Eheliyagoda Central 158 

Pathum Hasaranga Vidyaloka Galle 105 

Girls’ School 

Harshitha Samarawickrama Anula Vidyalaya 4,433 

Pabasara Ranabahu Rathnavali GS, Gampaha 2,894 

Kaveesha Dilhari Devapathiraja, Rathgama 57 

Ruwini Nandasena St. Joseph’s Girls School 8 

Readers prizes go to: 1. Anuradha Mayadunne, 45/3, Mihindu Mawatha, Malabe, 2. C.A. Wambeek, 14, Lanka Matha Road, Ragama, 3. L.L.D. Samarawickrama, H 2/3, Anderson Flats, Narahenpita, Colombo 5, 4. Suravi Sandeep, 141/1A, Mabodale, Veyangoda.