Lasith presses gas pedal
The player is back in form. Maris Stella College batsman Lasith Croosepulle, has accelerated to his pace with another weekly record in combined votes as the 22nd week's results of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2017 is released.
Lasith is now keeping up an almost unassailable lead against his closest rivals in the All-Island Schools segment. Two weeks ago he suddenly faced a massive drop, but by this week he has fully recovered.
This week Lasith added 31740 combined votes which takes his tally to 197029. This is a clear lead of 58575 from his close rival Navindu Nirmal of St. Aloysius College Galle. It's a clear and healthy growth from last week's deficit of 29084 and the previous week's vulnerable 16563.
Navindu added 2249 combined votes in the ended week and his current total is 138454. With five more weeks to go till the end, the race is now virtually in the hands of the leader Lasith unless a miracle is performed by another, namely Navindu. Mohamed Najath of Zahira College remains at third place.
Pulitha Yasas of Sri Sumangala College Panadura, who has a tally of 4319 votes, may have challenger in Prabash Maduranga of Siri Piyarathana Padukka, who is closing in with a tally of 2465 votes in the Emerging Schools category. Within three weeks Prabash's count sees a great progress. 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 last week, is dominated by the former. This segment looks interesting in time to come.
Important
Lasith Croosepulle (Maris Stella College)...................... 197029 Navindu Nirmal (St. Aloysius' Galle) ............................. 138454 Mohamed Najath (Zahira College) .................................. 62207 Charana Nanayakkara (Thurstan College) ....................... 10497 Santhush Goonathilake (St. Peter's College) ..................... 9207 Dinitha Basnayake (St. Benedict's College) ...................... 6767 Romesh Nallaperuma (S. Thomas' College) ...................... 6415 Helitha Vithanage (Royal College) ..................................... 1838 Nikesh Anjana (S. Thomas' College) ................................. 1702 Mohamed Rifaz (Presidents College) ................................ 1373 Pulitha Yasas (Sri Sumangala Panadura) ........................... 4319 Prabash Maduranga (Siri Piyarathana Padukka) ............... 2465 Sahan Perera (Christ King Pannipitiya) ................................ 495 Imesh Basnayake (St. Peter's Gampaha) ............................ 305 Gimhana Dhanushka (Piliyandala Central) .......................... 130 Nipuna Ransika (P. de S. Kularatne MV) ................................ 98 Methushan Thilina (Kegalu Vidyalaya) .................................. 84 Suminda Lakshan (De La Salle Mutwal)................................ 51 Raveen Yasas (Devapathiraja Rathgama).............................. 44 Hirusha Mendis (Siddartha Central Balapitiya) ..................... 32 Tissara Dilshan Jayananda (National School Polonnaruwa) .... 8 Shrushee Adhishtana (St. Bernadette Kurunegala) 1 Tariq Haniff (Wycherley International) ................................ 522 Shimraz Shahil (Alethea International) ................................ 402
Readers prizes go to: 1. Dharshana Lewke Bandara, 41/31, Epitamulla Road, Pitakotte, 2. Gayan Jinadasa, 20, Dambahena Road, Maharagama, 3. D.K. Madanayake, 'Kusum', Annasiduwa, Panagamuwa, Chanchawela, Galle, 4. Sumithra Malkanthi, 20, Silver Crest, Yatiyana Road, Kekanadura.
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 22 of digital voting was monitored and approved by auditors Pricewaterhouse Cooper.