Ramith wins most popular ‘crown’

Royal captain Ramith Rambukwella was voted Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year. He polled a staggering 28,599 votes in the final week alone to increase his final tally to a record 248,702 votes.

Rambukwella, who scored over 1,100 runs last year with a magnificent 165 in last year’s Royal-Thomian encounter, represented Sri Lanka Under-19 with distinction richly deserved that honour.

He also scored twin hundreds at this year’s ‘Big Match’ and a century in the Mustangs trophy game.

Finishing second after a keenly contested tussle in the All-Island contest was Ananda spinner Sachitra Perera who bagged over 100 wickets this season.

Perera polled 199,235 votes to finish ahead of former Royal captain Bhanuka Rajapaksa who settled for third place with 197,474 votes.

Keeshan Gamage of Vidyartha College, Kandy survived a tense finish to emerge the Observer-Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer in the outstation contest. He polled 112,872 votes to finish ahead of Dushan Vimukthi of Panadura Royal with 110,482 votes.

There had been heavy voting during the past several weeks in the most popular contests of the Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year, sponsored by Sri Lanka’s national mobile service provider - SLT Mobitel.