No changes in the status quo
The results of the eighth week of the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2019 contest comes out with Sukhitha Manoj of St. Sebastian's College Moratuwa still holding on to the lead in the AllIsland Schools segment.
Navod Paranavithana of Mahinda College as always is showing good potential next to him followed by Lakshitha Rasanjana of Nalanda College at third place. Shehan Fernando of St. Benedict's College comes a few places up this week, in addition to Naushan Rafeel of St. Anne's College Kurunegala and Kanishka Ranthilakage of Ananda College from the bottom half.
Vishal Rukshan of St. Peter's College Gampaha, continues to lead the Emerging Schools category where the list remains unchanged from last week. Thanusha Sandaruwan of St. John's College, Nugegoda and Lithija Kalhara of Ananda Maithree NS Balangoda have managed to add a good count this week too, but the leader continues with his usual intake of 500 plus votes to remain on top.
Sathya Sadeepani of Devapathiraja College Rathgama continues to lead the Girls' Schools category, which was introduced to the ever popular competition in the country last season. Alongside her is Sithmi Nirasha of Anula Vidyalaya Nugegoda in the category.
The nature of the race to the top could definitely hit a peak as weeks progress with 18 more weekends to go before it comes to an interesting end. Coupons will be published in the Sunday Times, the two English dailies, the Daily Mirror and DailyFT, and the two Sinhala dailies, Daily Lankadeepa and Ada and Sinhala Weekend, Deshaya. From this year coupons will also come out in the Tamil Mirror.
In addition Dialog Axiata's online voting system through their official Online Portal to vote for the Most Popular Cricketer (www.dialog.lk/cricket), will come alive from next week. Players of all categories, including those already in the fray through coupons, should register themselves following the link -- www. dialog.lk/cricket/register. The method to follow in the digital registration process has been made simple for schoolboys and schoolgirls. Already a good number of players have registered and their names will be published in weeks to come after necessary verification.
Players who have represented their respective school in First XI cricket and with a tally of 400 or above runs or 25 wickets or above in the last season will be automatically eligible for the Dialog 4G-the Sunday Times Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2018 competition. Schools have been categorised under three categories -- the All-Island, Emerging and Girls schools, according to the segmentation process of Sri Lanka School Cricket Association.