The inaugural cricket awards conducted by the Sri Lanka Cricketer's Association in association with Multichemi International Pvt. Ltd. will take place at the Water's Edge in Battaramulla next Sunday (25th February), just before the national cricket team leave for the ICC Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. Multichemi International signed up with the Cricketers' Association to sponsor the annual cricket awards for the next three years last year and the ongoing Premier League tournament attracted plenty of interest after the announcement of the awards scheme.

"What we are trying to do is to recognise the efforts of cricketers in the Premier League tournament. We are not only considering the efforts of the players, but that of the umpires, curators, coaches and basically everyone who is involved in the game and hopefully this encourages individuals to perform even better in their chosen field in the sport," Dilshad Perera, General Manager of Multichemi International told ‘Sunday Island' . "There's a cricket awards scheme even at school level and we thought that it's appropriate to have one for the elite players as well." Perera added.

Multichemi International put out several healthcare products, which come under the name of Nature's Secrets and this is the first time they've got involved in promoting sports in the country.

"Sri Lanka is known for its cricket in some parts of the world and we at Nature's Secrets have a vision to be a world class supplier by the year 2010. We hope our involvement with cricket will help us further in this regard," Perera further said.

"I am sure the awards scheme has encouraged everyone to be at their best during this season. Apart from the top cricketers of the year, there are awards for Umpire of the Year, Curator or the Year, Coach of the Year and Journalist of the Year and the prizes that we have announced are quite attractive ones as well," Perera said.

Furthermore, Nature's Secret conducted a poll together with ‘The Island' and ‘Divaina' newspapers to choose the Most Popular Cricketer of the Year and Dinusha Fernando from Sebastianites SC is leading the competition with 5510 votes while Lahiru Fernando of Panadura SC is placed third with 2830 votes.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, who played just a handful of domestic games for his club SSC, is placed fourth while Russel Arnold of NCC is at number five followed by Indika de Saram of Ragama CC,

Among thousands of readers who send their coupons, ten lucky winners were chosen at the Upali Newspapers premises recently and they will receive their gifts at a ceremony to be held at the company premises on Monday.