OBSERVER-MOBITEL contest gets spiced up in new format....:

More schools – greater the interest

by Ranjan ANANDAPPA

The voting for the 35th Sunday Observer/Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year Contest 2013 under a new format has been encouraging as the coupons have begun to pour in.

The formats under ‘platinum’ for schools playing in the division one, ‘gold’ for schools taking part in division 2 and ‘silver’ for the schools playing in Division III have created more enthusiasm judging by the number of coupons received.

For over three decades the contest was held under two categories namely, All Island and Outstation, but this year the voting pattern has been changed to break the monotony and the winners will be in three categories namely, Platinum, Gold and Silver as the Sunday Observer has already brought to the notice of the readers in previous issues. The placings of all three categories of the contest will be out in next weeks Sunday Observer January 27and the senders of the coupons are kindly requested to write their name and address clearly for the purpose of selecting the weekly readers prize.

The year 1996 was a significant one for Sri Lanka cricket as they became the world cricket champions and also saw two new cricket stars emerging from hill capital - Trinity College, Kandy and excelling during the season that year. The two stars were none other than the former Test captain Kumar Sangakkara and Kaushalya Weeraratne. The latter, Weeraratne went on to win the coveted Sunday Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year Contest in the year 2000 after representing Trinity for three years.

The years 1996/1999 were hectic for Kaushalya Weeraratne, in addition to the heroics in the rugby field, he represented his school at cricket. His lively medium pace bowling and aggressive batting put him on line for the selection of the Sunday Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year that year which he eventually won in year 2000.

Kaushalya Weeraratne, the hard-hitting left-hander and a right-arm-medium-pace bowler, also took away the Best All-Rounder’s and Best Bowler’s awards that year. He had the distinguished honour of being a Trinity ‘Lion’ at cricket and a coloursman at rugby. At the ‘Oval’ shape ball game Weeraratne, who is also a top athlete, was a speedy winger and was a member of Trinity’s 1999 rugby team.

He had a choice either to play rugby, full time or cricket, but he opted for cricket and had fared well. He has represented the country in 15 ODIs and 5 T20s and his only wish is to play Test cricket for Sri Lanka. If he had continued with his rugby most probably, he would have ended up by donning the Sri Lanka jersey at rugby too.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer with regard to the contest, Weeraratne said that there is no doubt that a show of this nature has inspired him and more talented cricketers in reaching the top. “It is an accepted fact that a good number of recipients, let it be all Island or outstation has represented the country at the highest level. Earlier the schools in the rural areas did not get their due recognition, but this contest has made them more prominent and as a result many top players have emerged from that segment of the contest.

Weeraratne is the first Trinitian to win the major school cricket award. Niroshan Dickwella, another Trinitian, won the contest last year. Dickwella represented the Sri Lanka under-19 team at the Junior World Cup cricket competition and is a regular member of the NCC.