Top five emerge in vote for CEAT Peoples Player of the Year

Five of Sri Lanka’s cricketing heroes have emerged as the ‘top scorers’ for the 2011 CEAT Peoples Player of the Year award, as votes-based competition intensifies, organisers of the contest announced.

By 14 November, more than 9,500 votes had been cast online and via SMS, and five contenders for the award had emerged. They were, in random order, the country’s elegant and eloquent top order batsman Kumar Sangakkara, national Captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, colourful slinger Lasith Malinga, Vice Captain Angelo Mathews and the classy Mahela Jayawardene.

Voting for the 2011 CEAT Peoples Player of the Year ends on Friday, 25 November.

The 100 cricketers on contract with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) are eligible to receive votes for this award, which will be one of the highlights of the third edition of the annual CEAT Sri Lanka Cricket Awards scheduled for Tuesday, 29 November.   

Votes can be cast via SMS on five mobile networks -- Dialog, Etisalat, Mobitel, Hutch and Airtel -- and by employing the CDMA services of Lanka Bell, Suntel and SLT City Link. Voters should type CEAT (space) Name of the Cricketer and send to 6797 to participate.

Online voting can be done through a dedicated website www.ceatsrilankacricketawards.com and via facebook (www.facebook.com/ceatsrilankacricketawards).

As a special reward from CEAT Sri Lanka, 10 lucky winners drawn from the voters will be presented with tickets to the CEAT Sri Lanka Cricket Awards gala at the Water’s Edge at the conclusion of the voting period.

Tillakaratne Dilshan won the CEAT Peoples Player of the Year award in 2009 while in 2010 this accolade was won by Kumar Sangakkara.