Their commitment to excellence was portrayed right in front of our eyes at the BMICH on Friday evening. The Schoolboy Cricketer of 2009 from Ananda College Dinesh Chandimal spent a gruelling day, spending it most of the time battling the pace battery of the New Zealand bowlers at the Colts Grounds and top scoring for the local team with a stylish 64 runs.

Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year Dinesh Chandimal celebrates his title.

Then the day before, the team from St. Patrick’s College Jaffna were preparing themselves to make that 400km journey to Colombo to be recognized as the Best Team Northern Province. In short, incidents of this nature went to make the Sunday Times-Bata Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year Show the tremendous success that it was.

While Dinesh Chandimal who was also chosen as the best captain by leading Ananda to thirteen wins this season took the second best place in the Team category, the lads from Reid Avenue - who became the only team to beat Ananda outright this season, perched themselves at the helm by becoming the best team All Island.

It was an evening filled with jubilation and entertainment. Saman and the Clan mingled their music with energetic Ginger, Ronnie Leitch and Corinne de Almeida, the dancing crew from the Prasadhi Academy kept the huge crowd present at the show spellbound with some breathtaking moves.

At the same time to recognize and salute the talents of these budding future national stars, stalwarts beyond the boundary line of yesterday and today - Chaminda Vaas, Jayantha Seneviratne, Pramodaya Wickremasinghe, Graeme Labrooy along with the Chief Guest of the night secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket Nishantha Ranatunga took time off their busy schedules to grace the occasion.

Some of the other significant achievers on Friday were the Outstation Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year Imesh Udayanga of Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda and the lads from Moratuwa MV who were chosen as the Best Team Outstation, as a tribute to their haul of thirteen outright wins in the 2008/09 season.

The night was excellent. The only evidence to it was the sea of heads swaying in their seats and dancing in the isles in the sections kept exclusively for them.

The best team -All Island: Royal College
Best All-rounder Angelo Perera receiving his award from Jayantha Seneviratne	Runner-up Shameera Weerasinghe receiving his award.
Best Bowler All Island: Matheesha Perera collecting his award.	Runner up Best Bowler All Island: Rushan Jaleel receives his award.
Best Fielder Denuwan Rajakaruna collects his prize.	Runner-up Best Fielder: Andri Berenger receives his award.
Runner-up Best Batsman All Island Kushal Perera collects his prize.	Jayantha Seneviratne, Chaminda Vaas and Pramodaya Wickremasinghe arriving at the ceremony,
Dinesh Chandimal, Captain of Ananda College, receiving the award for the Best team runners-up from Chaminda Vaas.
Imesh Udayanga receiving the Outstation Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year award from Chief Guest Nishantha Ranatunga	Wimanga Perera receiving the runner up award for Schoolboy Cricketer of the year (Outstation)
Maduka Liyanapathirana collects his award for Best Bowler (Outstaion).	Best batsman Outstation Gayan Manishan Recieving his award from Dilshan De Silva of ACUSL.
Isira Kumara collecting his award for Runner-up Best Fielder ( Outstation)	The Wesley Captain collecting the award for the Most Disciplined team from Pramodya Wickremasinghe.
Captain of the Gamini Maha Vidyalaya receiving the Trophy for The Most Up and Coming Team.	Chaturanga De Silva recieves his award for Runner-up Best Allrounder (Outstation)
The St. Anthony’s College Captain collecting the award for the Best Team Central Province from S.R. Pathiravithana-Deputy Editor the Sunday Times.	The Trinty College Captain receiving the award for the Runner-up Best Team Central Province.
Captain of the Maliyadeva Team collecting the Trophy for the Runner-up Best Team Outstation.	The Captain of Moratu Maha Vidyalaya receiving the Trophy for Best Team Outstation from Graeme Labrooy.
The Captain of Mahinda College Galle receiving the trophy for the Best School Southern Province.	The Captain of St. Aloysius College collecting the prize for the Runner-up Best School Southern Province.
Captain of the Anuradhapura Central College receiving the trophy for the Best Team North Central Province from Saman Amarasinghe.	St. Patricks College Jaffna recieves the award for the Best Team Northern Province from Saman Amarasinghe, President ACUSL.
Isham Ghouse recieving the award for the Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer All Island.	Indunil Kumara collecting the award for the Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer Outstation.
Krishan wickramarachchi collecting the Award for the Runner-up Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer Outstation.	Adhil Niyas Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year collecting his award.
Yokanth Ravichandrakumara receiving the award for the Runner-up Most Popular Schoolboy Crickerter of the Year-International Schools.	Captain of Lyceum Wattala recieving the award for the Best Team International Schools from Chaminda Vaas.
Ashwin Hanifa collecting the award for the Most Outstanding Player International Schools.
The dancers adding colour to the show
Saman, Ronnie, Corrine and the Prasadhi Dance Troup kept the audience enthralled.