Is cricket a welcoming sport, or is there a toxic side to the culture?
I’ve always admired cricket from afar and have been interested in getting involved for years, but I’ve never really had the confidence to take the plunge and join my local club.

I’m now seriously considering giving it a go but I’m curious about what the culture is actually like.
Is cricket generally a welcoming sport for newcomers, or can it be quite cliquey, elitist or toxic? Are local amateur clubs usually friendly and encouraging towards beginners, or can there be a lot of ego, favouritism and gatekeeping?

I appreciate that every club will be different, but I’d be interested to hear people’s honest experiences, both good and bad.
I’m not looking to bash the sport quite the opposite. I’d genuinely like to get involved, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit apprehensive about walking into a club where everyone already knows each other.

How would I change the cricket calendar?

Lets be honest cricket being overloaded , there’s a match every two days against teams playing each other again and again . 
Billaterlas :Bilaterlas dont make sense , there isnt a reason to watch it , It’s  basically a friendly game with no objective except winning a friendly cup.First i would remove bilaterals . It isn't exciting any more. It's been repeated a million times . It won't attract new cricket fans at all,remember ur most played song when u first heard it u loved it , after u kept hearing it again and again it doesn't give that feeling right? We need to understand that for something to be valuable it should not be repeated a thousand times .It should be precious not excess. We can still keep international international cricket interesting drawing inspiration from the test format itself we can launch a t20  world league with matches not series , india doesn’t play australia 3rd time in 7 days  , this keeps it interesting something like the top 4 teams play semi finals etc , if we do a series like 3matches to give points it makes us lose novelty something new every next match , it should be decided though draws , weaker teams should be given equal exposure . for odis we could do something like a tri series . Test  Cricket should remain as it is because it’s the purest form of the game .

Franchise cricket: franchise cricket has so many leagues now , mainly the IPL , which has indian players all of the other indian players cant play in any other league expect the ipl , now we should be focused on one league at a time we should not keep international matches between its too complicated. The BCCI should remove this rule and lift off the monopoly but is this practical NOO . it may be very hard to make bcci  remove this rule . Bcci earns 60% of its revenue through the ipl . This is a MAJOR problem since india is  the country for cricket culture and casual fans would not even watch international leagues. 

Commercialization of domestic cricket : Domestic cricket is very competitive actually , it's fun to watch but we don't see the quality in it like international matches , domestic cricket can be a great business strategy and fans would love it . We  should promote watching more domestic matches and not keep internationals during that time , making international matches more valuable and giving proper attention to them . we should build fan culture identity around it , rivalries etc . This will naturally increase the quality of domestic cricket . I am speaking not just for India, I'm saying globally this should be done.

More teams and equal chances in the world cups: first t20 wc should also be held every 4years.
All teams should be allowed to participate or all teams should play qualifiers instead of playing qualifying just to be the 2 weak teams of the wc . there should be random draws not putting india and pakistan and two associates in one group . Let it be competitive , this will increase viewership in small nations also gradually . 

These small changes may make a big difference in the long term and maybe make cricket more popular over time . This system is a tweaked system from the one we have now . It would take convincing to change it , it should be practical. But this is just my opinion or view on it , i have given thoughts to how practical a club based system would be but creating clubs etc would take a lot of time , making international leagues , the indian players and pakistan problem has not been considered here and that's a very big problem also cricket faces . Im not telling to be open to pak players its a serious safety concern for the nation and safety always come first giving this a thought , the franchise cricket may remain as it is but all the rest of changes will help cricket definitely
-Arjun pillai 20/10/2026

Since he became captain he is changed into a complete different guy, take a look on his stats :

As a player : 2797 runs, 34.5 avg, 1 100s

As a captain : 1196 runs, 54.4 avg, 4 100s

Kane Williamson had an avg of 54.1 but he is retired that's why he is not included in the list.

This is South Africa's highest 8th wicket partnership in test cricket history. It is also the highest 8 wicket partnership in the history of the World Test Championship. Eventually Marnus Labuschagne bowled Simon Harmer for 82 to end the partnership. Bavuma got out on the next ball for 179.

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https://www.icc-cricket.com/matches/274931/nigeria-vs-gambia

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https://www.icc-cricket.com/matches/274929/uganda-vs-zambia

https://www.icc-cricket.com/matches/270228/australia-vs-new-zealand

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Split the 20 overs into three parts.

10 overs -> normal, like today.
5 overs with a special pace ball -> which swings more and bounces more.
5 overs with a special spin ball -> which grips more and spins more.

Captain chooses which ball to use when. Lots of tactics and strategy around this automatically.

Sixes and fun is important in T20, and is still there in the 10 normal overs. But real fast bowlers and good spinners now also become important in the 10 bowlers overs. Tactics and strategy become important. Batters technique now becomes important. Ability to hit sixes becomes even more important.

We already have SG ball which favours spin, Dukes ball which favours pace. Modify them a bit more to make them more bowler friendly. Not extreme modification - just small modifications, which will change the overall structure of the ball a bit.

Add a harder core and bouncier cork to a Dukes ball and it bounces well on any pitch (wont be kookaburra in Perth, but close enough). Then, increase the height of the seam a bit more for seam movement. This will be the pace ball. If you want swing also, maybe add one more layer of lacquer, and you get the ball to swing well too.

ICC/IPL can decide what level of pace they want the ball to play.

To get better spin might be even easier. Take the SG ball, make it overall rougher, but even rougher on one side (for drift). Keep the seam even more raised so that a properly pitched ball does get to spin more.

These balls will be of different colours maybe so that people can easily identify.

This stops T20 from being only a batting show, and makes it a better showcase of the fun cricket can bring.

What is everyone's view about this?