All set for more surprises
With some new features to the existing components, the much anticipated Most Popular competitions of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2018, will officially commence from October 1.
In addition to the All-Island Schools and the Emerging Schools categories, the organisers have decided to make room for a new category -- the Girls' Schools, which will undoubtedly add glamour to the 26-weeklong competition. Currently, the number of Girls' Schools competing in the Sri Lanka School Cricket Association ( SLSCA) annual tournament have risen to 32, according to official statistics, and recognising the Girls' efforts will surely boost their morale, as it surely does for the Boys.
In addition, the organisers have also gone to the extent of including a category for the Girls in the main awards presentation, which will be wholly based on the annual tournament statistics, conducted by the SLSCA.
The Most Popular competition will now have three categories in all, with the inclusion of a Girls' contest. As mentioned earlier, the Most Popular competitions will kick off from October 1 and run for 26 weekends, alongside the ongoing Under- 19 Schools Cricket Competition season, and end by March 2018.
Coupons for readers to vote for their favourite Schoolboy and Schoolgirl Cricketers will be published from October 1, first appearing in the Sunday Times. Coupons will be continuously published for 26 weeks in the Sunday Times, English dailies Daily Mirror and Daily FT, Sinhala dailies Lankadeepa and Ada. In addition, Dialog Axiata will open their web portal for supporters to vote for their favourite Schoolboy/ Schoolgirl Cricketer. As in the last season, there will be a different method to follow the digital process of voting for the favourite Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Cricketer to make them the Most Popular winner.
As usual, Schoolboy Cricketers will come under different categories, mainly AllIsland and Emerging. All schools competing in the ongoing Inter-School Division I tournament will be categorised under the All-Island Schools, while the remaining schools competing under Division II and III categories, will come under Emerging Schools. The competition for the Girls' Category will be for players of the 32 schools currently registered with the SLSCA.
As usual, players who have represented their respective school in First XI Cricket, and who have either scored 400 or more runs or, taken 25 or more wickets in the last season, will become automatically eligible for the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2018 competition.
With the introduction of the digital voting mechanism, the entire interface of the competition is expected to reach another level. However, players who wish to enter the fray will have to confirm their participation by registering online with www. dialog. lk/ cricket. Even schoolboy cricketers whose names are entered into the competition by readers, must register. Players who register online will be officially scrutinized of their eligibility and entered into the online voting mechanism, while the customary voting through coupons will continue. The dates for registration and scrutinizing methods will be notified soon.
Both coupon votes and online votes will be counted on a weekly basis and the official results published every week beginning Sunday, in the newspapers and its websites, as well as of Dialog Axiata. The deadline for online voting will be Wednesday noon, while for coupons it will be Thursday noon, weekly.
At the same time, readers who help the young cricketers reach the pinnacle this season will also be rewarded on a weekly basis. Dialog Axiata will generously present gifts to 4 lucky winners from among the voters, encouraging our readers to be more attached to the contest, as well as the future cricketing talents of Sri Lanka.
The 26-week-long programme of 2017 had a fitting end with the grand awards ceremony held at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre on July 29, where Nipun Ransika of P. de S. Kularatne MV Ambalangoda emerged the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Schoolboy Cricketer and Lasith Croosepulle of Maris Stella College Negombo won the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year.