Lasith creates history in polling — tops 200,000 mark
Overall leader Lasith Croosepulle of Maris Stella College Negombo became the first to reach the milestone of 200,000 votes in the history of the competition as Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2017 reaches its 23rd week.
Lasith, who usually has a good following added 11042 combined votes to take his tally to 208071 votes and take an unassailable lead of 67653 in the All-Island segment, the best margin recorded in the competition’s history.
With the development, Lasith becomes a clear contender to finish off the race in style considering his present lead and the continuous flow of combined votes. Last week Lasith and second in line Navindu Nirmal of St. Aloysius College Galle had a deficit of 58575 but by this week it swells further making the leader’s future quite safe with few more weeks to go.
Navindu, in the meantime, added 1964 combined votes to take his total count to 140418 but stands far behind the leader. His progress was not as hot as the beginning and his weekly addition keeps dropping. Unless his followers flock together to perform a miracle, Navindu has a slim chance to topple Lasith. Mohamed Najath of Zahira College continues to remain at third place.
In the Emerging Schools segment a clash is on cards between leader Pulitha Yasas of Sri Sumangala College Panadura and Prabash Maduranga of Siri Piyarathana Padukka. Yasas added 607 combined votes in the ended week to move his tally up to 4926 while Prabash added 1057 to move to 3522. The deficit stands as 1404 in favour of Yasas at the moment. The International Schools category which had a major shakeup after Tariq Haniff of Wycherley International School ended the dominance of Shimraz Shahil of Alethea International School two weeks ago, is dominated by the former.
Important
Coupons will run for 26 weeks in the Sunday Times, the two English dailies, the Daily Mirror and DailyFT, and the two Sinhala dailies, Daily Lankadeepa and Ada with the final week set from July 2. 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 23 of digital voting was monitored and approved by auditors Pricewaterhouse Cooper.
All-Island Schools
Lasith Croosepulle (Maris Stella College) 208071
Navindu Nirmal (St. Aloysius’ Galle) 140418
Mohamed Najath (Zahira College) 62435
Charana Nanayakkara (Thurstan College) 10501
Santhush Goonathilake (St. Peter’s College) 9373
Dinitha Basnayake (St. Benedict’s College) 6925
Romesh Nallaperuma (S. Thomas’ College) 6415
Helitha Vithanage (Royal College) 1838
Nikesh Anjana (S. Thomas’ College) 1702
Mohamed Rifaz (Presidents College) 1412
Emerging Schools
Pulitha Yasas (Sri Sumangala Panadura) 4926
Prabash Maduranga (Siri Piyaratana) 3522
Sahan Perera (Christ King Pannipitiya) 720
Imesh Basnayake (St. Peter’s Gampaha) 348
Gimhana Dhanushka (Piliyandala Central) 130
Nipuna Ransika (P. de S. Kularatne MV) 98
Methushan Thilina (Kegalu Vidyalaya) 84
Suminda Lakshan (De La Salle Mutwal) 53
Raveen Yasas (Devapathiraja Rathgama) 44
Hirusha Mendis (Siddartha Balapitiya) 32
Tissara Dilshan (National School Polonnaruwa) 8
Shrushee Adhishtana (St. Bernadette Kurunegala) 1
International Schools
Tariq Haniff (Wycherley International) 522
Shimraz Shahil (Alethea International) 463
Readers prizes go to: 1. Sisil Vijitha, 129F, Abanvita, Gampaha, 2. T. Seneviratne, 99, New Road, Kottawa, Pannipitiya, 3. Lal Wijekulasuriya, 8A, Flower Road, Colombo 7, 4. W. de Silva, 320/10/1, Rathnarama Road, Hokandara North