Ransika and Sudeera to walk down the red carpet
Naming Nipun Ransika as the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2017 may look odd when it comes to traditions, but traditions are meant to be broken, if the bill fits.
Ransika represents P. de S. Kularatne Maha Vidyalaya, a Division II cricket playing school from Ambalangoda, but as a Sri Lanka Under-19 cricketer, he has done his homework to make the event Selection Panel, headed by Jayantha Seneviratne, ponder on what’s in store for the future.
Eventually it was a worthy call, naming Ransika the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2017. Ransika undoubtedly comes from a rural background, sans the basic requirements a young cricket player needs. But his dedication over the years made initially to his school First XI team, despite being a Division II school, paved the way for him to reach the district and provincial levels. His final destination was the Sri Lanka Under-19 team, where Ransika became the strike bowler.
Ransika was part of the Sri Lanka Under-19s in several international tours — the Youth Asia Cup, South Africa Tri-Series where Zimbabwe was the third contender, Sri Lanka’s tour to South Africa and the tour to Australia. To date he has claimed 51 wickets at school level and 34 wickets at international level during last year. His notable performances came against South Africa and Australia where Ransika was the man to be aware of by the opponents. These were matters taken to note by the selection committee, who had few other choices from the All-Island schools.
Nipun Dananjaya Perera of St. Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa was an easy call for the selectors to make for the runners-up trophy of the main award. His name was shortlisted in three segments, — the Best Bowler, Best Batsman and the Best Allrounder, but he was able only to come to the top in the latter of these three awards. In addition two schools, St. Aloysius College Galle and Thurstan College bagged three awards each in the All-Island awards list.
The selections kicked off with the Best Fielder award where a list of 20 names were pruned down to eight in the first round. The names of Ravindu Rashantha of Dharmasoka College and Santhush Gunathilake of St. Peter’s College were shortlisted for the final call. Ravindu was named the winner while Santhush ended up as the runners-up. The next in line of awards was the latest addition to the list, the Best Wicket-keeper. Again there were 20 names drawn up in the list and those who drew attention were Dushan Guruge of Maris Stella College and Navindu Nirmal of St. Aloysius College. Nirmal was the winner while Dushan was the runner-up.
Among the list of 20 in the Best Bowler’s list five names were easily getting the attention of the selectors. They were Naveen Gunawardene of Thurstan, Hareen Buddhila Weerasinghe of St. Aloysius, Lasitha Udage of St. Mary’s, Nipun Dananjaya of St. Joseph Vaz and Mohamed Ameen of St. Peter’s. The final two who went above the rest were Hareen, who won the prize and Naveen, who was named the runner-up.
The Best Batsman’s award was one of the hardest of all calls. The list of 20 was pruned down to 11 by the selectors who then had a lengthy discussion to pick the best two. Eventually the winner was Pathum Nissanka of Isipathana, who hit a double ton in the opening week while Ashen Bandara of St. Aloysius emerged runner-up. The Best Allrounder had a list of 16 players but it was only the best eight that were able to reach the next round. Eventually Nipun Dananjaya Perera of St. Joseph Vaz won the main prize while Charana Nanayakkara of Thurstan bagged the runner-up prize.
For the Best Team award a total of 20 teams were in the list but it was Thurstan, Richmond, St. Peter’s, S. Thomas’, Dharmasoka, Ananda and Mahanama that reached the next round. From there the team performances were seriously considered before naming Thurstan the best team and Richmond as the runners-up. This decision easily helped the next award in line, the Best Captain where Thurstan skipper Kasun Abeyratne was the winner.
With the best and hardest part of the selections completed it was time for the selectors to move to the Emerging Schools category. It began with the Best Fielder award, where there was a list of 20 names that were shortlisted to eight. The final choice of the selectors was Ishara Maduwantha of Karandeniya Central as the winner and Kavindu Irosh of St. Sebastian’s Katuneriya as the runner-up. The list for the Best Bowler too had 20 names and it was cut down to eight after the first round. The selectors came to an easy conclusion that the star of the show, Nipun Ransika of P. de S. Kularatne MV be the winner and Dilum Sudeera of Karandeniya Central be the runner-up.
The Best Batsman award had 21 names in the list and it was shortened to nine after the first round. Wanitha Wanninayake of St. Anne’s Kurunegala had an impressive record than of Lahiru Thambavita of Holy Cross Kalutara to become the winner. A total of 14 names were in for the Best Allrounder award. The list was brought down to six and Dilum Sudeera of Karandeniya Central, whose name was among the best two in the Best Bowler award, won his first title. Nipuna Deshan of Sri Sumangala Panadura was the runner-up.
From a list of 20 the names of St. Thomas’ Matara, St. John’s Panadura and St. Anne’s Kurunegala were in the radar for the Best Emerging Team award. Eventually St. Anne’s had an impressive record to be named the best while St. Thomas’ finished second best before the best teams from each Province were selected. From a total of 39 schools Sri Sumangala Panadura won the Best Team award from Western Province. Southern Province had nine names and Rahula Matara was the best out of all. The Central Province list rather a short one than expected and Vidyartha was the winner from the region. Uva Province had three runners for the title and it was Bandarawela Central who claimed the prize. St. Sebastian’s Katuneriya became the best team among eight teams in the North Western Province. There were four teams from the Northern Province and Jaffna Central was the best from the list. Dudley Senanayake MMV Tholangamuwa had a good record to be the best among three teams from Sabaragamuwa Province. Rajasinghe MMV Hanwella was picked as the Up and Coming Team from the remaining lot.
All winners will be given prior notice by the organisers to gather at a famous venue in Colombo on July 27 which will be the special day dedicated for them. The eventful Friday promises to be an unforgettable one to all winners in particular those who won the top awards. Dialog Axiata and the Sunday Times humbly wish that, all winners will be able to continue with their fine performances, which were helpful in being recipients of these awards, to reach greater heights in cricket.
