Keen tussle for Most Popular crowns

There has been tremendous enthusiasm in the final rounds of voting for the Observer-Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year contests. As the grand finale is fast approaching, there has been heavy voting.

However, the top slots in the All-Island and Outstation contests still remain open. There has been a keen tussle for supremacy among the top three cricketers in each category.

Only a few hundreds of votes separate the first three in the All-Island and Outstation contests and all six of them have an equal chance of winning the crowns - the Observer-Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year All-Island and Outstation titles. Royalist Kithruwan Vithanage, with 81,049 votes, regained the lead in the All-Island contest after the latest round of voting. Nevertheless, he enjoys only a slim lead of 988 votes over his team mate S. Edirisuriya.

In third place is Chathura Peiris of St. Peter’s College who is 14 votes behind Edirisuriya. A similar keen tussle is evident in the Outstation contest with N. Rajaguru of Nugawela Central enjoying a close 187 vote lead over Malinda Samarasekera of Maris Stella College. K. Wickremarachchi of Gamini MV, Bentota, who polled 231 votes less then Samarasekera, is placed third.