Lakshan (STC, Matara) and Ziraz (Madeena Central) win Gold and Silver division contests:

Royalists Harith and Randev paved way for exciting Observer-Mobitel Contest

by Ranjan Anandappa

Sunday Observer/Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer Of The Year Contest 2014 The intense struggle for supremacy between the two Royalists Harith Samarasinghe and Randev Pathirana for twenty weeks finally came to an end when Harith Samarasinghe emerged victorious, polling 173,432 to Randev Pathirana’s 170,265 votes with a majority of 3167 to win the 36th Sunday Observer/Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer Of The Year 2014 title.

From the early stages of the contest, it was a battle between the two Royalists Samarasinghe and Pathirana who were in the forefront with entries pouring in a rapid pace for both contestants. Both received over 170,000 votes which was only second to the to the 2011 contest which Ramith Rambukwella also from Royal College, Colombo was voted as the Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer Of The Year with a vote count of (248, 702) which is probably the highest so far in the 36-year-old history of the competition.

With the end of finding the Sunday Observer/ Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer Of The year the selection of The Schoolboy Cricketer Of The Year on merit was also completed and the date for this much awaited show will be notified in due course.

The main competition, the selection of the Schoolboy Cricketer Of The Year is solely done on merit taking into consideration the manner how the contestants fared during the last 2013/2014 school cricket season and also taking other achievements into account such as performances at International level.

There were two important international cricket tournaments where the Sri Lankans participated this year. It was the Under 19 Asia Cup and the Under 19 World Cup, both tournaments held in the United Arab Emirates within a short period of time.

The players performances in those tournaments, coupled their performances in the school cricket tournaments were given preferences. Some players had to skip many school cricket matches due to their commitment with the national squad, either being in the squad or playing in the final team.

The main competition and even the Most Popular segment has paved the way for many schoolboy cricketers to come into the limelight and in the years gone by Dinesh Chandimal (2009), Ramith Rambukwella (2011 Most Popular), Niroshan Dicwella (2012) finding their way into the national team.

The contest has also benefitted many players from the outstation schools especially from down south and the hill capital. With the contest being broad-based as ‘Platinum’, ‘Gold’ and ‘Silver’ many award winning opportunities have been created for the non-Colombo based schools which will no doubt be a great encouragement for those lads.

This year’s winner in the division 111 ‘Silver’ is Mohammed Ziras a youngster from Madeena Central College in Kandy, with an encouraging vote count of 40,240, Dilshan Kanchana from Devapathiraja, Kandy came second, polling 37,847 votes.

The ‘Silver’ category has exposed more players from rural areas with Zaafi Zarook (Vidyaloka ,Galle), Hareen Samarasinghe (Madampe MV, Ambalangoda), Sanjaya Wanninayake (U.B.Wanninayake MV, Galagedera) from schools that entered the competition for the first time.

In the ‘Gold’ segment for division 11 schools, Lasith Lakshan from St.Thomas’, College, Matara has been the favourite among the readers as he was placed first with 46,820 votes and Tharaka Dananjaya of Carey College, Colombo secured the second place with 45,125 votes.

Matara has been a famous destination for continuously bringing out the best of Sri Lanka cricket with it’s living embodiment Sanath Jayasuriya who was once a recipient of the Outstation Schoolboy Cricketer Award.