Dialog-ST 2018: Leaders bolster their take to the crowns

The race looks to be gaining momentum in all three categories of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy / Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2018, with the contest set to come to a close in four weekends. 

By the 22nd week of the contest, Dellon Peiris of S. Thomas' College continues to lead the All-Island Schools with 28700 combined votes, while Denuwan Perera of Carey College takes his tally to 15744 in the Emerging Schools segment. 

Harshitha Samarawickrama of Anula Vidyalaya has taken an unassailable lead in the Girls' Schools with a massive tally of 14219 combined votes. 

Numbers clearly indicate that the competition is set to reach the climax and finish off in an exciting way in all three categories. 

In the All-Island Schools, Dellon, the Thomian leg-spinner took his lead further away from Sachin Silva of St. Peter's College with an addition of 1567 combined votes. 

The lead between Dellon and Sachin now reaches 10824, slightly above the margin of last week's. 

Sachin added up 945 combined votes to his tally, taking it to 17876. 

But as predicted the cynosure of the entire episode now turns on Vihan Gunasekara of D.S. Senanayake College. 

He initiated his unsuspecting move last week and by this week Vihan's progress confirms that he is up for a grand surprise. 

He makes the second biggest addition for this week, with 3059 combined votes to take his total to 12759. 

In the process Vihan closes in Sachin and is 5117 votes away from catching up the second slot. 

This surely ensures a fierce battle between the second and third -- Sachin and Vihan. 

The rest of the lineup remain the same unchanged. 

Denuwan of Carey continues to dominate the Emerging Schools while taking his tally to 15744 votes with the addition of 1183 combined votes. 

He continues to maintain the deficit against Kenula Gunaratne of St. Aloysius' College, Ratnapura by 3147, which is however lower than last week. 

Kenula added 1790 combined votes and took his total count to 12597, which indicates that he too is willing to give a stiff fight to the top within the next four weeks. 

Sonara Karunathunga and Thimira Malshan, both of Ananda Sasthralaya and Heshan Madushanka of Piliyandala Central follow in down the order for yet another week unchanged in the top five. 

Harshitha of Anula Vidyalaya, continues to lead the Girls' Schools category and for the first time in this year's race, she becomes the top gainer among competitors of all three categories. 

She added a record 4460 combined votes to secure her top position while taking her tally to 14219. 

Pabasara Ranabahu of Rathnavali Girls' School Gampaha added 402 combined votes and reached 7888 votes in total. 

The deficit between the two currently is 6331, which may give Pabasara some extra pressure with limited time available. 

Kaveesha Dilhani of Devapathiraja MV, Rathgama and Ruwini Nandasena of St. Joseph's Girls' School are the other two contenders in the list. 

Coupons will be published in the two English dailies, the Daily Mirror and DailyFT, and the two Sinhala dailies, Daily Lankadeepa and Ada and Sinhala Weekend, Deshaya with the deadline set in four more weekends. 

Readers could vote for their favourite schoolboy or schoolgirl cricketer and take them to the winning post during this period. 

Dialog Axiata's online voting system through their official Online Portal to vote for the Most Popular Cricketer (www.dialog.lk/cricket). 

Online voting will be open until April 5. 

Both coupon votes and online votes will be counted on a weekly basis and the official results published from every Sunday in the five newspapers and its websites. 

The deadline for COUPONS and ONLINE VOTES will be every Thursday Noon. 

Online Votes received after the weekly cutoff time will be counted for the next week, while for Coupons, ONLY those numbered for the particular week will be taken into count.

This week's digital voting count was monitored and approved by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

Results: Week 22 

All-Island Schools 

Dellon Peiris (S. Thomas' College) 28700 

Sachin Silva (St. Peter's College) 17876 

Vihan Gunasekara (D.S. Senanayake College) 12759 

Asel Sigera (Ananda College) 3131 

Kavin Peiris (Lumbini College) 1274 

Dulaj Bandara (Dharmaraja College) 1226 

Kalana Perera (S. Thomas' College) 759 

Mahesh Theekshana (St. Benedict's College) 664 

Dinidu Wijewardene (Nalanda College) 537 

Ravindu Fernando (Maris Stella College) 478 

Emerging Schools 

Denuwan Perera (Carey College) 15744 

Kenula Gunaratne (St. Aloysius Ratnapura) 12597 

Sonara Karunathunga (Ananda Sasthralaya) 5576 

Thimira Malshan (Ananda Sasthralaya) 2730 

Heshan Madushanka (Piliyandala Central) 2162 

Kavindu Shilpage (Siri Piyarathana Padukka) 956 

Saliya Jeewantha (Eheliyagoda Central) 454 

Pulitha Yasas (Sri Sumangala Panadura) 255 

Pathum Hasaranga (Vidyaloka Galle) 236 

Girls' School 

Harshitha Samarawickrama (Anula Vidyalaya) 14219 

Pabasara Ranabahu (Rathnavali GS, Gampaha) 7888 

Kaveesha Dilhari (Devapathiraja, Rathgama) 62 

Ruwini Nandasena (St. Joseph's Girls School) 28 

Readers prizes go to: 1. Indika Wijayagunarathna, 310/01, 15th Lane, Naiwala, Veyangoda, 2. Ashan Lakshitha, 39, Dalthara, Piliyandala, 3. Rukman Silva, 20/3, Pallidora Road, Kawdana, Dehiwela, 4. M.E. Vanderwert, 152, Suhada Mawatha, Mahahunupitiya, Negombo.