Kamindu Mendis and Chamari Atapattu took home the night’s biggest awards, being named the Men’s and Women’s Cricketers-of-the-Year, respectively, as Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) held their Awards Night at the Cinnamon Life Hotel in Colombo.
The Home Lands SLC Awards feted those who had contributed to Sri Lankan cricket for the 2024 calendar year.
Kamindu’s record-breaking year unsurprisingly, made him the best Test Batter after he struck 1,049 runs at 74.92 over the 12-month period in consideration, comfortably beating Dinesh Chandimal’s 724.
The two Best Batter Awards in the Men’s white-ball category were split between Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka, with the former’s 628 runs at a strike-rate of 127.64 pipping Nissanka 622 at 138.53 for the T20I Award while Nissanka returned the favour in the ODI category as his 694 runs at an average of 63.09 outgunned Kusal’s 742 at 53.00.
The night’s biggest winner, however, was Atapattu, who bagged six awards in total, including Women’s Cricketer-of-the-Year.
She swept the batting, bowling and all-rounder awards for T20Is in a year where she scored 720 runs – second only to Smriti Mandhana – and picked up 21 wickets in the format.
In ODIs, her 458 runs at 65.42 along with nine wickets in as many games meant she was named the Best Batter and All-rounder in the format too.
In Tests, Prabath Jayasuriya was named Best Bowler for his 48 wickets across nine Tests, making him the joint-fourth highest wicket-taker in Tests for the calendar year.
Dhananjaya de Silva was awarded Best Test All-rounder for his 710 runs and six wickets across 10 Tests, though he faced minimal threat on that front with Milan Rathnayake, with just four Tests under his belt, his only competition.
In the white-ball category, Wanindu Hasaranga came away with three honours, securing the Best Bowler Award in both T20Is and ODIs after taking 38 and 26 wickets in each of the formats while his 179 runs in T20Is meant he was also named best T20I all-rounder.
Men’s Cricket Awards (International Cricket): Emerging Player-of-the-Year – Janith Liyanage. (Test): Best Batter – Kamindu Mendis, Best Bowler – Prabath Jayasuriya, Best All-rounder – Dhananjaya de Silva. (ODI): Best Batter – Pathum Nissanka, Best Bowler – Wanindu Hasaranga, Best All-rounder Charith Asalanka. (T20I): Best Batter – Kusal Mendis, Best Bowler – Wanindu Hasaranga, Best All-rounder – Wanindu Hasaranga. Men’s Cricketer-of-the-Year: Kamindu Mendis.
Women’s Cricket Awards – International Cricket (ODI): Best Batter – Chamari Atapattu, Best Bowler – Kavisha Dilhari, Best All-rounder – Chamari Atapattu. (T20I): Best Batter – Chamari Atapattu, Best Bowler – Chamari Atapattu, Best All-rounder – Chamari Atapattu, Women’s Cricketer-of-the-Year – Chamari Atapattu. Men’s Domestic Awards (Major Club Men’s T20 Tournament): Best Bowler – Akila Dananjaya, Best Batter – Pawantha Weerasinghe, Player-of-the-Tournament – Chamika Karunaratne. Runners-up – Bloomfield, Champions – NCC. (Major Club Men’s 50 Over Tournament): Best Bowler – Dilshan Munaweera, Best Batter – Krishan Sanjula, Best All-rounder – Thanuka Dabare. Runners-up – CCC, Champions – Ace Capital CC. (Major Club 3-Day Tournament): Best Bowler – Dilum Sudeera, Best Batter – Sahan Kosala, Player-of-the Tournament – Ravindu Fernando. Runners-up – NCC, Champions – Bloomfield. Women’s Domestic Awards (Major Club Women’s Invitational Tournament): Best Bowler – Rashmi Silva, Best Batter – Harshitha Samarawickrama, Player-of-the Tournament – Nilakshi De Silva. Runners-up – Army SC, Champions – Chilaw Marians CC. Match Officials Awards (Umpire-of-the-Year) Chamara De Zoysa, Match-Referee of-the-Year – Pradeep Jeyapragash.
Lifetime Awards – Ranjit Fernando, Lifetime Awards – Chandra Schaffter, Lifetime Awards – Janaka Pathirana, Lifetime Awards – Stanley Jayasinghe, Lifetime Awards (Journalism): Prince Gunasekera, Lifetime Awards (Journalism): Prasanna Sanjeewa Thennakoon
