Naveen (Nav) Sivanathan embodies the spirit of cricket. He plays and loves the game himself, and his mantra is: If a child wants a game of cricket, we will get one for them.
Nav, as a cricket volunteer, is a role model at the young age of 22, as he is not only a beloved Cricket Blast and junior cricket coach to 250 young players, but also the junior vice president of his club, Kissing Point CC. Nav fulfils all his roles with passion, energy and gusto, and with a smile on his face.
Earlier this year, Nav was selected this year’s Cricket NSW Young Leader of the Year. Cricket is at the forefront of Nav’s mind even as he is working as a market researcher after a BSc degree from Macquarie University where he graduated from in 2022. He started playing the sport when he was six years old in what used to be Milo Cricket, which has since become Woolworths Cricket Blast.
His parents migrated to Australia from Sri Lanka, and like most subcontinental families, his father and he live and breathe cricket. Nav’s father Pras Sivanathan played seniors cricket when he moved to Sydney, and was Nav’s first coach. By the age of eight, Nav was playing junior club cricket in a U9 team. By 15, he was playing senior cricket for his club.
For over a decade, Nav has volunteered in various capacities at the club. He ran the club’s Cricket Blast program for three years, and last season, took on coordinating the junior teams as well. The club has also made great strides in female cricket, currently with two junior girls’ teams. Most parents say their children look up to Nav as he is a stellar cricketer himself, but can also relate to him as a friend and mentor because he isn’t much older than them.
Nav says that, for his leadership skills he draws inspiration from his favourite cricketers. “I look up to Mike Hussey for how he applied 100 percent to the job at hand and how he was across every form of the game in a variety of roles. AB de Villiers inspires me to think outside the box. I look at Pat Cummin’s leadership, and also Sri Lankan cricketers Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, my childhood heroes, for their cricket smartness,” he said.
Nav, with his warm, energetic, sincere and authentic demeanour, makes it a point to attend a couple of junior games every Saturday during the cricket season to say hello and check in with coaches and team managers, before going to his own game of seniors in the afternoon.
Last season, during the club’s junior gala day, he commentated and scored three matches. Add to that the fact that he regularly takes up duties such as managing the bar with his RSA, or Friday night barbecues and you see why the club can’t function without him.