Dunith Wellalage of St. Joseph’s College, Colombo and Chushadi Kaushalya of Dharmapala College Pannipitiya emerged Observer SLT Mobitel Most Popular School Cricketers of the Year 2022.
When the voting for the most popular contests concluded last week, Wellalage and Kaushalya headed the respective Observer SLT Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy and Schoolgirl Cricketers of the Year 2022 with convincing margins.
Sri Lanka Under-19 skipper Wellalage polled 44,564 votes to head the Observer SLT Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy of the Year 2022 – 4,567 votes ahead of his closest contender Rusanda Gamage of St. Peter’s College, Colombo with 39,997 votes.
Sri Lanka Under-19 cricketer Sadisha Rajapakse of Royal College who emerged the Observer SLT Mobitel Most Popular Schoolboy of the Year 2021 last December, had to be satisfied with the third place with 31,404 votes.
Finishing fourth was Vishara Fernando of Richmond College, Galle polling 28,703 votes, followed by Pasan Suwahas (St. Benedict’s - 28,238), Caniston Karunaratne (S. Thomas’ - 18,993), Raveen de Silva (Nalanda - 14,109), Ramesh Madhubasana (Mahinda - 10,845), Pasindu Ratnayake (Thurstan - 10,056) and Theeraka Ranatunga (Trinity - 9,406).
Chushadi Kaushalya of Dharmapala polled 40,077 votes to emerge the Observer SLT Mobitel Most Popular Schoolgirl Cricketer of the Year 2022, 3,965 votes ahead of Manudi Nanayakkara of Princess of Wales College Moratuwa. Nanayakkara polled 36,112 votes.
Kaushini Nuthyanga of Anula Vidyalaya, Nugegoda finished third with 23,055 votes, followed by Navodya Nethmini (Wadduwa MMV - 15,348), Tharushi Rajakaruna (Nugawela Central - 10,899), Imesha Dulani (Devapathiraja - 8,404), Vishmi Guneratne (Rathnavali BV, Gampaha - 7,236), Hirushi Nimanthi (Jayasiripura KV, Bakamuna - 6,989), Nimsara Dissanayake (Sri Siddhartha Central - 5,909) and Hashini Liyanage (Anula Vidyalaya, Nugegoda - 5,403).
Looking back at the past winners of the Observer SLT Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketers of the Year, Sahan Wijeratne is another talented cricketer who has won the distinguished title in yesteryear.
The Observer SLT Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year produced its first ever Cambrian who won the top award in Sahan Wijeratne who sported the crown in 2002 some 24 years after the inauguration of the event in 1979.
The Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2002 has played for Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa for two seasons. He has been a champion cricketer right from his young days.
Wijeratne captained the Cambrian team in four age groups under 13,15,17 and 19. The right-hand batsman and right-arm off-break bowler represented the under-17 all-island team that toured Pakistan for the Asia Cup and also toured Bangladesh. He made a century against Malaysia and won the man of the match award.
The promising cricketer from Prince of Wales became the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year in 2002, the third in the new millennium after Kaushalya Weeraratne of Trinity College, Kandy in 2000 and Kaushal Lokuarachchi of St. Peter’s College in 2001.
Unfortunately, though Wijeratne won the dream title in 2002, he was not able to go beyond Sri Lanka youth level to play in either Tests or One Day Internationals for Sri Lanka.
Though he had proved his credentials at school level, he was not lucky enough to get a call from the national selectors at that time. He was named Sri Lanka Under-19 team captain in 2002 but he did not get an opportunity to go beyond Sri Lanka ‘A’ level.
But when he was entering the big league from school level as Sri Lanka Under-19 captain, many spoke in glowing terms of him as a future star of Sri Lanka.
Unfortunately, somewhere in between he seemed to have lost his way or rather not been given the breaks he deserved.
His rise in 2001 and 2002, saw his fame soar rapidly from his school days and earned a contract from Sri Lanka Cricket, but that was as far as he got as he was never continuously selected to play in the ‘A’ teams or the Development squads.
He was drawn into the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team in 2002 and played for the Board President’s X1 but other than that opportunities had been few and far between. In 2012, he was a member of the Seylan Bank team that won the Mercantile ‘A’ division final.
Young Wijeratne had a distinguished career at school captaining Prince of Wales in the under -13, under 15, under 17 and under 19 teams. He led Prince of Wales first X1 team in 2001 and 2002 and then led the Sri Lanka under -19 team in 2003.
Wijeratne also secured a six-month scholarship in England in 2002 and played in the Middlesex league and later for three years from 2009 in the county circuit.
He had an exceptional school year as his final appearance for Prince of Wales in 2002 saw him being selected the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year and also won the Best Batsman award.
The following year he was awarded the Prince Charles trophy for being the best under 19 all-island cricketer by the British High Commission.
Mahamandige Sahan Rangana Wijeratne, born on August 27, 1984 in Colombo, was a classy batsman with a fine temperament who was a prolific scorer in domestic cricket scoring over 4,000 runs in first-class cricket with four centuries. In domestic competitive cricket, he represented Chilaw Marians Cricket Club, Moors Sports Club and Nondescripts Cricket Club.
Meanwhile, the Observer SLT Mobitel School Cricketers of the Year is organized by Sri Lanka’s oldest national newspaper the Sunday Observer and sponsored by the national mobile communication provider SLT Mobitel.
This is the 15th consecutive year in which SLT Mobitel is providing its financial support.
The financial backing of Mobitel has taken the Observer SLT Mobitel School Cricketers of the Year contest to great heights and has not only helped to improve the quality of the contest with lucrative prize money but also has helped to reward coaches and masters-in-charge of champion teams.
In a unique gesture of goodwill and fair play, a special award for the best behaved team too is on offer.
This award was added to the glorious award list on a suggestion made by none other than the first recipient of the most sought after award in school cricket Ranjan Madugalle, the current Chief Match Referee of the ICC who won the title in 1978-79.
He was the chief guest at the 40th anniversary show.
The Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year was the first inter-school awards ceremony in Sri Lanka which commenced some 44 years ago even when the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association had not even thought of rewarding outstanding school cricketers.
In fact, the SLSCA had not even thought of a First XI tournament structure for two-day games at that time, more than four decades ago.
That is precisely why the Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year remains the Mother of All Shows.
That is precisely why winning an award at the Observer SLT Mobitel School Cricketers of the Year show remains the cherished dream of thousands of school cricketers.