A slight hiccup, but Lasith is still in the lead
View(s):Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2017
Maris Stella College batsman Lasith Croosepulle, who had been dominating the All-Island Schools of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2017, faced a massive slump in his vote base, as the results of 20th week are released.
Despite that fact Lasith still continues to lead the race for the sixth week running but the deficit between him and second in line, Navindu Nirmal of St. Aloysius College, has closed in considerably. Last week the gap between the two was 25339 but this week it stands as 16563. Usually Lasith had been getting receiving record number of combined votes, in tens of thousands, flops terribly this week and received only 246. His tally, though, moves up to 150329.
On the other hand Navindu becomes the top gainer this week with his combined vote count of 9022 for the ended week. This takes his tally to 133766, creating a possible clash between the top two in weeks to come. With seven more weeks to go till the end, it could be anybody’s call, being an open competition. Mohamed Najath of Zahira College remains at third place. The full list will be pruned down to the Top 15 during this month and by end of May it will be further shortlisted to the Top 10.
Pulitha Yasas of Sri Sumangala College Panadura, being the only competitor to surpass the 4000 vote mark, continues to dominate the Emerging Schools category. He may be challenged by the new entrant Prabash Maduranga of Siri Piyarathana MV Padukka, who lands in to the second position with 852 votes. The International Schools category is still led by Shimraz Shahil of Alethea International School.
Important
Coupons of the competition will be published in the Sunday Times, the two English dailies, the Daily Mirror and DailyFT, and the two Sinhala dailies, Daily Lankadeepa and Ada. Coupons will run for 26 weeks with the final week set from July 2. Readers could vote for their favourite schoolboy cricketer and take them to the winning post during that period. Online voting could be done through Dialog Axiata’s digital online voting system Portal to vote for the Most Popular Cricketer via www.dialog.lk/cricket. The count of week 20 of digital voting was monitored and approved by auditors Pricewaterhouse Cooper.
All-Island Schools
Lasith Croosepulle (Maris Stella College) 150329
Navindu Nirmal (St. Aloysius’ Galle) 133766
Mohamed Najath (Zahira College) 61571
Charana Nanayakkara (Thurstan College) 10484
Santhush Goonathilake (St. Peter’s College) 9136
Dinitha Basnayake (St. Benedict’s College) 6452
Romesh Nallaperuma (S. Thomas’ College) 6415
Helitha Vithanage (Royal College) 1825
Nikesh Anjana (S. Thomas’ College) 1390
Mohamed Rifaz (Presidents College) 1349
Lakshina Rodrigo (St. Peter’s College) 1209
Sahan Suraweera (Ananda College) 700
Hareen Buddhila (St. Aloysius College) 557
Dileepa Jayalath (Ananda College) 531
P.A. Dananjaya (Richmond College) 291
Emerging Schools
Pulitha Yasas (Sri Sumangala Panadura) 4111
Prabash Maduranga (Siri Piyaratana Padukka) 852
Sahan Perera (Christ King Pannipitiya) 301
Imesh Basnayake (St. Peter’s Gampaha) 283
Gimhana Dhanushka (Piliyandala Central) 130
Nipuna Ransika (P. de S. Kularatne MV) 98
Methushan Thilina (Kegalu Vidyalaya) 84
Suminda Lakshan (De La Salle Mutwal) 51
Raveen Yasas (Devapathiraja Rathgama) 44
Hirusha Mendis (Siddartha Central Balapitiya) 32
Tissara Dilshan Jayananda (National School Polonnaruwa) 8
Shrushee Adhishtana (St. Bernadette Kurunegala) 1
International Schools
Shimraz Shahil (Alethea International) 327
Tariq Haniff (Wycherley International) 38
Readers prizes go to: 1. B.K. Goonasekara, 26/1, Station Lane, Nugegoda, 2. Aruna Lalith, SDI, 4th Floor, 240, Highlevel Road, Colombo 6, 3. Nishani Perera, 375/C, Moratuwa Kanda, Galagedara, Padukka, 4. T. Senaratne, 99, Aluth Mawatha, Kottawa, Pannipitya.