Naveen Patil – An Impact Bowler
Parramatta District Cricket Club | March 30, 2026
During the trials for the upcoming 2023/24 Naveen turned up unheralded from the Wentworthville Leagues Cricket Club to ply his wares with Parramatta in the NSW Premier Cricket Competition.
He is a tall, lithe right-arm medium-paced seam bowler who bowls with relentless accuracy and possesses the ability to extract destructive movement out of any pitch offering an iota of assistance. With the bat he provides handy lower-order runs.
In his initial season with the club, he made a strong impact and was an instrumental component of the Fifth grade team, captained by Liam Gillies, attaining a spot in the Grand Final against Manly.
During the season his pinpoint bowling wrought havoc in two matches in particular:
1. He rocked Penrith with the astounding figures of 5/2.
2. Naveen later destroyed Blacktown with the earth-shattering return of 16 / 40 – he simply blew them away in the first innings while securing staggering 9/16 and backed that up with 5/24 in the Warriors’ second visit to the batting crease.
His full season’s return in Fifth grade was an impressive 33 wickets @ 8.73.
The popular paceman proved his initial season was ‘no fluke.’
He again bowled with skill and potency to grab 34 wickets @ 8.38 in 2024/25 – this meant that he had recorded the amazing bowling averages of 8.73 and 8.38 in back-to-back seasons.
His ability to wreck an innings was again illustrated by bowling returns of 3/9 v. Easts, 4/6 v. Easts [QF], 3/19 v. North Sydney, and 5/26 v. Sydney and Naveen’s contribution to the team’s cause greatly assisted Liam Gillies’ Fifth grade team to snatch the 2024/25 Fifth Premiership – Parramatta’s fourth win in this competition.
Naveen has again figured prominently in 2025/26 and to date has claimed another bagful of Fifth grade victims – 30 wickets @ 10.03 (including 4/19 v. NDs, 4/22 v. Blacktown, 4/26 v. Sydney).
His outstanding bowling display against Manly in the Qualifying Final – 7/46 (featuring five LBWs and one bowled) has propelled Parramatta into the 2025/26 Semi-Finals and has placed his team on the path to potential back-to-back Premierships.
By Tom Wood – Parramatta District Cricket Club Historian
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