Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) hosted its most awaited awards night on Monday, celebrating the best cricketing talents of 2024. Kamindu Mendis and Chamari Athapaththu were awarded the top honours as the Men’s and Women’s Cricketers of the Year. A total of 46 awards were presented at the event, which was attended by many cricketing stars, both past and present, with Sports Minister Sunil Kumara Gamage gracing the occasion.
This was the first SLC Awards ceremony held since 2017, and it marked a return to recognising standout performers from both international and domestic cricket.
Athapaththu Bags Six Awards in Stellar Year
Athapaththu took home six awards. She was the standout performer in both ODI and T20I formats, winning titles for Best Batter, Best Bowler, and Best All-Rounder in T20Is. She also topped the ODI batting and all-rounder charts. Only Kavisha Dilhari’s bowling performance prevented her from sweeping all the women’s category awards.
On the men’s side, Kamindu was named Best Test Batter, having scored 1,049 runs in just nine matches. Prabath Jayasuriya won Best Test Bowler, while Dhananjaya de Silva claimed the All-Rounder of the Year award.
Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka shared the white-ball batting honours, while Wanindu Hasaranga claimed three awards, including Best Bowler in ODIs and T20Is, and Best T20I All-Rounder. Charith Asalanka was named Best ODI All-Rounder.
Janith Liyanage was honoured as Emerging Player of the Year for his impressive ODI debut.
For the first time, women’s domestic cricket was also recognised, with Rashmi Silva, Harshitha Samarawickrama, and Nilakshika Silva taking the top honours.
For latest sports updates: Follow RevSportz.