U-19 Cricket: Nipun Ransika, the Dialog 4G-TST Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2017

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. 

All-Island 

Schoolboy cricketer of the Year 2017 
Winner: Nipun Ransika (P. de S. Kularatne MV)) 
Runner-up: Nipun Dananjaya Perera (St. Joseph Vaz College) 

Best Fielder 
Winner: Ravindu Rashantha (Dharmasoka) 
Runner-up: Santhush Gunathilake (St. Peter's) 
First round: Ravindu Rashantha, Sandaruwan Fernando, Santhush Gunathilake, Dilan Chathuranga, Nishan Fernando, Malinga Amarasinghe, Lasindu Arosh, Supun Waragoda 
Second round: Ravindu, Santhush 

Best Wicket-keeper 
Winner: Navindu Nirmal (St. Aloysius Galle) 
Runner-up: Dushan Guruge (Maris Stella) 
First round: Shevon Fonseka, Muditha Hashan, Gajitha Kotuwegoda, Malintha Peiris, Asintha Malshan, Vinura Hiranjith, Erosh de Silva, Kavindu Madarasinghe, Duvin Kalansuriya, Dushan Guruge, Lakshina Rodrigo, Navindu Nirmal 
Second round: Dushan, Navindu 

Best Bowler 
Winner: Hareen Buddhila Weerasinghe (St. Aloysius Galle) 
Runner-up: Naveen Gunawardene (Thurstan) 
First round: Naveen Gunawardene, Hareen Buddhila Weerasinghe, Lasitha Udage, Nipun Dananjaya, Mohamed Ameen 
Second round: Naveen, Hareen 

Best Batsman 
Winner: Pathum Nissanka (Isipathana) 
Runner-up: Ashen Bandara (St. Aloysius Galle) 
First round: Malindu Maduranga, Nishan Fernando, Pathum Nissanka, Lasith Croosepulle, Nipun Dananjaya, Udara Ravindu, Helitha Withanage, Gajitha Kotuwegoda, Kavindu Madarasinghe, Shehara Madushan, Ashen Bandara 
Second round: Pathum, Ashen 

Best Allrounder 
Winner: Nipun Dananjaya Perera (St. Joseph Vaz) 
Runner-up: Charana Nanayakkara (Thurstan) 
First round: Nipun Dananjaya Perera, Sajith Sameera, Damitha Silva, Shanogeeth Shanmuganathan, Madushan Ranatunga, Charana Nanayakkara 
Second round: Nipun, Charana 

Best Team 
Winner: Thurstan College 
Runner-up: Richmond College 
First round: Thurstan, Richmond, St. Peter's, S. Thomas', Dharmasoka, Ananda, Mahanama 
Second round: Thurstan, Richmond 

Best Captain 
Winner: Kasun Abeyratne (Thurstan) 

Emerging Schools 

Emerging Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2017 
Winner: Dilum Sudeera (Karandeniya Central) 
Runner-up: Wanitha Wanninayake (St. Anne's College Kurunegala) 

Best Fielder 
Winner: Ishara Maduwantha (Karandeniya Central) 
Runner-up: Kavindu Irosh (St. Sebastian's Katuneriya) 
First round: Ishara Maduwantha, Kavindu Irosh, Dunith Jayatunga, Nadun Abhishek, Thilanka Rupasinghe, Lahiru Thambavita, Dhananjaya Fernando, Rasindu Ishan 
Second round: Ishara, Kavindu 

Best Bowler 
Winner: Nipun Ransika (P. de S. Kularatne MV) 
Runner-up: Dilum Sudeera (Karandeniya Central) 
First round: Nipun Ransika, Dilum Sudeera, Dimith Sampath, Maduka Niroshan, Hashin Dilman, Pasan Sanjaya, Vimukthi Wijesiriwardana, Sandaruwan Dharmaratne 
Second round: Nipun, Dilum 

Best Batsman 
Winner: Wanitha Wanninayake (St. Anne's Kurunegala) 
Runner-up: Lahiru Thambavita (Holy Cross Kalutara) 
First round: Lahiru Thambavita, Wanitha Wanninayake, Chamod Sandaru, Kalhara Shaminda, Nipuna Deshan, Dimuth Kapuhandige, Raminda Pravinath, Pulasthi Basnayake, Ruwan Lakshan 
Second round: Lahiru, Wanitha 

Best Allrounder 
Winner: Dilum Sudeera (Karandeniya Central) 
Runner-up: Nipuna Deshan (Sri Sumangala Panadura) 
First round: Dimith Sampath, Dilum Sudeera, Nipuna Deshan, Yugeesha Dishan, Pubudu Ganegama, Kasun Heshan 
Second round: Dilum, Nipuna 

Emerging Best School 
Winner: St. Anne's College Kurunegala 
Runner-up: St. Thomas' College Matara 

Best Emerging Provincial Teams 

Western Province 
Winner: Sri Sumangala College Panadura 

Southern Province 
Winner: Rahula College Matara 

Central Province 
Winner: Vidyartha College Kandy 

Northern Province 
Winner: Jaffna Central College 

Uva Province 
Winner: Bandarawela Central College 

North Western Province 
Winner: St. Sebastian's College Katuneriya 

Sabaragamuwa Province 
Winner: Dudley Senanayake MMV, Tholangamuwa 

Up and Coming Team 
Winner: Rajasinghe MMV, Hanwella