Only six days are away from determining the winner of the Observer-Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer and Most Popular Schoolgirl Cricketer for 2020.
The 42nd Obsever-Mobitel School Cricketer of the Year 2020 is organized by Sri Lanka’s flagship English newspaper the Sunday Observer and sponsored by the country’s national mobile service provider Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel.
The voting for the 42nd Observer-Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer and Most Popular Schoolgirl Cricketer close on October 31, 2020.
Today will see the last voting coupon appearing in the Sunday Observer while our sister papers Daily News, Dinamina and Thinakaran will publish their last voting coupons this Saturday (31). The final deadline to accept all voting coupons will be November 2, 2020 12 noon.
There has been a tremendous contest for the most popular contests, especially in the last three months. Even though the contest was slightly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in mid March, it quickly picked the momentum once it recommenced in two months time.
Ananda College’s Anuda Jayaweera is well set for the title in the Observer-Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer title though anything could happen at the last minute. Ever since his entry to the contest after the first few weeks, Jayaweera has shown a steady progress clearing his way from the tail.
Since gaining the top slot about two months back, he had a small drop to second and third place. But he has now maintained his lead in the last one month. Jayaweera has polled 81,117 votes in the penultimate week to be in the lead with a considerable advantage. Jayaweera now takes a 6,398 lead over his closest contender in the second place.
The only positional change in the voting in the penultimate round was created by Royalist Ahan Wickramasinghe.
After occupying the third place in previous weekend’s voting, Wickramasinghe has now advanced to the second place with 74,719 votes, displacing Lohan de Soyza of Dharmasoka College. De Soysa who held the second position last week is now placed third with 74,214 votes.
Shehan Fernando of St. Benedict’s College takes the fourth place with 72,984 votes, followed by Sukitha Manoj (St. Sebastian’s College - 68,889), Thevindu Seneviratne (Royal - 61,102), Dunith Wellalage (St. Joseph’s - 51,679), Ranudha Somaratne (Trinity -51,447), Kanishka Rantillekege (Ananda - 50,368) and Dimuth Sandaruwan (Richmond - 37,996).
Nimesha Wijesundera of Marapola MV, Minuwangoda takes the lead in the Observer-Mobitel Most Popular Schoolgirl Cricketer for 2020 with 58,877 votes.
There were no positional chances in the other places too. Trailing by 4,674 to Wijesundara is Renuka Damayanthi of Bandaranayake MV who has polled 54,204 votes.
In the third place is Suranja Lakmali of Gonapola BMV with 53,773, followed by Janadi Anali (Anula Vidyalaya - 45,280), Sachini Nethmini (Wadduwa Central - 41,366), Umsha Himeshani (Devapathiraja Vidyalaya - 33,402) and Kavisha Dilhari (also of Devapathiraja Vidyalaya - 25,212).
Going down memory lane, Sanath Jayasuriya is one of the prominent schoolboy cricketers we could never forget. Showing his great cricketing skills for a tender age, Jayasuriya of St. Servatius College won the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year Outstation in 1988.
Jayasuriya who was adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the series when Sri Lanka won the ICC World Cup in 1996, is another Sri Lanka captain to emerge through the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year contest.
As his school St. Servatius’ College, Matara was rated as an outstation team, he was not considered under the all-island category for the top award. Nevertheless, Jayasuriya’s dashing form in the 1987/88 season won him the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year (Outstation) in 1988.
“Winning that prestigious title was the best thing that had happened in my early cricketing career. It was an immense joy when I was playing for St. Servatius. Winning the title gave me a tremendous boost, confidence and inspiration. Schoolboy cricketers must be motivated to progress to the next level”, Jayasuriya said.
Meanwhile, former Sri Lanka captain Hashan Tillekaratne said the Sunday Observer has done yeoman service to promote school cricket for nearly half a century.
“It was a fine gesture by Lake House to start an awards ceremony of this nature at a time there was no official inter-school cricket tournament for First XI cricket. We only had friendly two-day matches. Rewarding schoolboy cricketers for over 40 years is not an easy task. It has been a great source of encouragement for schoolboy cricketers and we all eagerly looked forward to this during our school career”, Tillekaratne said.
Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal too admits that the Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year title he won in 2009 as Ananda College captain opened a new chapter in his life with greater courage and confidence. Chandimal led his team Ananda to 13 outright victories in the 2008/09 season.
He led Ananda from the front with a lavish contribution with his willow, a staggering 1,580 runs in his final season. He was appointed vice captain of the Sri Lanka Under-19 team during the same year. He was just 19 years old when he scored his maiden first-class century against New Zealand in August 2009 while representing the Sri Lanka Cricket Development XI in a three-day practice match.
Chandimal also established a record against the Australian schoolboy team by accounting for eight victims behind the stumps.
In the year 2007, he scored 143 against the Indian Schools side and in the limited-over matches against the England Schools team Chandimal struck a fine century (112) and a half-century (65).
Under the directions of the Chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom and SLT Mobitel Rohan Fernando, the Chief Executive Officer of the SLT Mobitel Nalin Perera has made a lavish contribution towards the success of the event during the past decade.
Thanks to the longstanding association of the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA), the Sri Lanka Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), headed by Shammi Silva, the Observer-Mobitel School Cricketers of the Year contest has gone from strength to strength.