Observer/Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer contest:

Lakshina, Randev and Shanaka win Most Popular Awards

Lakshina Rodrigo (St.Peter’s), Randev Pathirana (Royal College,Colombo) and Shanaka Sampath (SiriPiyaratana MV, Padukka) were voted as the Sunday Observer/MobitelMost Popular Schoolboy Cricketers of the year 2015 at the end o the final weeks’s counting.

Rodrigo who was voted as the Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer in the platinum category hails from the cricket crazy city of Moratuwa and entered St.Peter’s in 2003 where he received his primary education. He was influenced to cricket from his smaller days by his father Priyalal Rodrigo , himself a top cricketer who played for St.Sebastian’s College Moratuwa and later went on to represent the Sri Lanka Under 19 team who took part in the Under 19 World Cup in Australia.

Lakshina Rodrigo learned his rudiments while at the Bandula de Silva Cricket Academy in Moratuwa. In 2006,Lakshina , was under the guidance of his school under 13 coach L.H.Sunil and was selected as an all-rounder. Spotting his talent as a wicket keeper who later preferred to keep wickets and since then he has been quite impressive behind the stumps.

He captained the Under 13, under 15sides which won the All Island Schools division one championship. He represented the schools district and provincial teams and at the final he was judged the Man Of the Match. While playing for the St.Peter’s first XI he scored over 750 runs and had over thirty victims as a stunper. He is a Sri Lanka Schools trialist and a member of the Development squad.

Royalist Randev Pathirana who was the runner-up in the Platinum segment last year was voted as the MostPopular schoolboy Cricketer in the ‘Gold’ category for schools playing in division two. Royal College, Colombo did not take part in the SLSCA tournament last year due to some reason . Therefore Royal had to play in division two this year. Hopefully they should take part in the division 1 in the coming 2015/ 16 school cricket tournament.Pathirana has proved his all-round capabilities beyond doubt during the last season. He has been scoring a lot of runs and taking wickets and has been an intragal part of his team. Shanaka Sampath of Siri Piyaratana MV, Padukka was voted as the Most Popular Schoolboy Cricketer in the division three ‘silver’ segment. He is promising all-rounder , hoping to play big time cricket. His selection is no doubt a big boost for the cricketers from the the out skirts of Colombo.

-RA