Kamindu, Athapaththu the biggest winners at Sri Lanka Cricket Awards 2024

Kamindu Mendis and Chamari Athapaththu took home the night's biggest awards, being named the men's and women's cricketers of the year, respectively, as Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) held its awards night on Monday.

The SLC awards, nominally an annual event, was being held for the first time since 2017, and feted those who had contributed to Sri Lankan cricket for the 2024 calendar year.

Kamindu's record-breaking year, unsurprisingly, made him the best Test batter after he struck 1049 runs at 74.92 over the 12-month period in consideration, comfortably beating Dinesh Chandimal's 724. Internationally, only four batters - Joe Root, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ben Duckett and Harry Brook - struck more than Kamindu during this period but none played as few as his nine Tests, the next lowest being 12.

The two best batter awards in the men's white-ball category were split between Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka, with the former's 628 runs at a strike rate of 127.64 pipping Nissanka's 622 at 138.53 for the T20I award, while Nissanka returned the favour in the ODI category as his 694 runs at an average of 63.09 outgunned Kusal's 742 at 53.00. Nissanka also became the first Sri Lankan to score a white-ball double-hundred in this period, when he took apart Afghanistan during an unbeaten 210 off 139 in February 2024.

The night's biggest winner, however, was Athapaththu, who bagged six awards in total, including women's cricketer of the year. She swept the batting, bowling and allrounder awards for T20Is in a year where she scored 720 runs - second only to Smriti Mandhana - and picked up 21 wickets in the format. In ODIs, her 458 runs at 65.42 along with nine wickets in as many games, meant she was named the best batter and allrounder in the format too. Only Kavisha Dilhari's 17 wickets across eight ODIs - earning her the best ODI bowler award - prevented an Athapaththu clean sweep.

There was more variety in the men's awards. In Tests, Prabath Jayasuriya was named best bowler for his 48 wickets across nine Tests, making him the joint-fourth highest wicket-taker in Tests for the calendar year. He beat out Asitha Fernando, who had 37 wickets in the same period.

Dhananjaya de Silva was awarded best Test allrounder for his 710 runs and six wickets across ten Tests, though he faced minimal threat on that front with Milan Rathnayake, with just four Tests under his belt, his only competition.

In the white-ball category, Wanindu Hasaranga came away with three honours, securing the best bowler award in both T20Is and ODIs after taking 38 and 26 wickets in each of the formats, while his 179 runs in T20Is meant he was also named best T20I allrounder.

In ODIs, men's national team skipper Charith Asalanka picked up the best allrounder award; his 605 runs at 50.41 were only bettered by Kusal and Nissanka, while his economical contributions with the ball where he picked up ten wickets at an economy rate of 4.78 - only behind Maheesh Theekshana - saw him play a pivotal role in a year that saw Sri Lanka rack up a 12-3 win-loss record in the format.

Janith Liyanage, who made his ODI debut in January 2024, was named emerging player of the year following an impressive 12 months in which he struck 462 runs at 46.20 and helped shore up Sri Lanka's middle order.

On the domestic front, women's domestic cricket was honoured for the first time at the SLC awards with performances in the Major Clubs Women's Invitational Tournament up for recognition. Allrounder Rashmi Silva was named best bowler, while Harshitha Samarawickrama picked up the best batter award. Nilakshika Silva was named best allrounder.

In the men's domestic category, Chamika Karunaratne was named Player of the Tournament in the Major Clubs Men's T20 Tournament, while Akila Dananjaya took home the best bowler award and Pawantha Weerasinghe was named best batter.

In the Major Clubs Men's 50 Over Tournament, Dilshan Munaweera, Krishan Sanjula and Thanuka Dabare, were named best bowler, best batter and best allrounder respectively, while in the Major Clubs 3-day Tournament Dilum Sudeera and Sahan Kosala were named best bowler and best batter with Ravindu Fernando named Player of the Tournament.

A total of 46 awards were presented during the ceremony, including match referee of the year and umpire of the year, which went to Pradeep Jeyapragash and Chamara de Zoysa respectively, as well as several lifetime achievement awards.

Many present and former cricketers were in attendance, with Sri Lanka's sports minister Sunil Kumara Gamage the guest of honour.