Basith Muzammil of Wesley is the Most Popular
Pips Minhaj Jaleel at the post
As he steadily did in the final few weeks of the competition, Basith Muzammil of Wesley College provided a shocker to dethrone Minhaj Jaleel from Thurstan College Colombo and become the Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year in the competition of the 34th Bata-the Sunday Times Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2013.
Muzammil, a fine allrounder, proved what he is made of like his performances on the field by receiving a staggering amount of votes, 24213 to be exact, in the final few days of the competition. Thus he took Jaleel’s place as the leader, pushing him down to the runner-up spot of the competition in the final week, after a tiring five months.
Muzammil, who stormed into the competition just four weeks before it was supposed to end, transformed the rivalry into a typical ODI (One Day International) scenario. He brought a sudden thrill into the competition similar to that felt when a wicket or a hit over the rope is badly needed for a thrilling win at matches. Muzammil’s overall tally ended at 40218, 11985 votes ahead of Jaleel, who was the overall leader of the contest until its dying moments.
Thurstan College’s Jaleel, who was 7023 votes ahead of Muzammil at the last count, only received 5205 votes during the final few days as he finished with an overall tally of 28233. St. Peter’s College skipper Dushan Hemantha finished at third way behind with an overall tally of 5524.
The Emerging Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year was none other than Sanju Sharuk of Vidyaloka Vidyalaya Galle who kept up to his potential. Sharuk, who took the lead from Deshan Dhananjaya of Sri Rahula College Katugastota during the earlier stages of the contest maintained a healthy lead for many weeks to follow and ended up as the leader with an overall tally of 3105 votes. During the final few days Sharuk received 849 votes and stands 1175 votes ahead of the eventual runner-up Lahiru Vimukthi, who looked threatening. Vimukthi of Sri Sumangala College Panadura completed the campaign with a tally of 1930 votes while his teammate Chamika Amarasekera finished behind at third with an overall tally of 1042 votes. Wallid Jiffry of Leighton Park International School became the Most Popular International Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2013 after being able to keep up to his momentum. Jiffry’s final count reads as 25601 and is 8787 votes ahead of Sasika Rathnathilake of Lyceum International School Nugegoda.
The winner received 7798 votes during the final stage. Sasika was coming out as a dangerous opponent for Jiffry at a stage but his thrust came to a surprising halt. Eventually Sasika finished with 16814 votes after receiving 6810 during the final few days. Chelaka Mallawaarachchi of Lyceum International School Wattala finished third but way behind.
As the Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2013 competition came to its end this week, the final selections of the main competition was conducted a few days ago. The selections were conducted by a panel of cricket experts and its final results will appear in the coming week’s issue of the Sunday Times.