If you could make one rule change in any format of the game what would it be?

New ball after 120 overs giving spinners a better bowl
Leg bye - get rid of it. If a bowler beats the bat hits the pad they shouldn’t penalised.
Bouncer rule to revert to previous rule with no limit and allow the umpires to monitor.
This would also make cricket more entertaining for all

Get rid of umpires call on replays - if its hitting the stumps its out (along with normal other rules). Ban Marnus and Smudge from reviewing decisions.

As a member of the MCC Laws sub-committee, I'm an advocate for the the removal of leg byes. The game is between bat and ball. Why should the batting team benefit from getting runs when they cannot hit the ball and it hits the body?

If the ball pitches outside leg stump and the batter does not play a shot then they can be given out LBW.

Great chat. Little bit of a radical/random one but perhaps it solves one or two calls above.
Game was designed to have three stumps creating a target for bowlers to dismiss batters. The size of the target has not changed in quite a long time, yet the game has. Conditions have generally improved for batters over the years, "it's a batters' game". Although it must be noted that some observable effort has been made in recent years to get results in First Class cricket via pitch preparation.
Increasing the size of the wickets would in part correct the bat v ball question by prioritising making contact with the bat. It would somewhat address the notion of being hit by the ball and making that fairer for the bowler by the result being more dismissals. (Side note, leg byes are action, the fielder has to field and the batters have to run (run outs are possible) and the scoreboard moves. We need to consider the impact of removing active play from a game that can already be slow moving.
It would naturally shorten games as bat v ball would be more of a premium, it would make the batter play at more balls which creates natural interest in red ball cricket. Consider that every time the bowler delivers a good ball that the batter has to negotiate that potentially brings fielders into play.... the game is more interesting.
I find myself acknowledging this as quite unrealistic as it is just too big a change for people to get their head around but consider the question is, what size would the stumps be if we invented the game of cricket today?

I'd like to see a trial of the double play in T20 games: e.g., fielder takes a catch and then run out the non-striker if backing up too far, or, get a run out at both ends in the one play. Would showcase fielding skills, even the contest between bat and ball, and maybe stop non-strikers getting a head start. It is a great feature of baseball so I'd like to see if it could work in the shortest form of cricket.

1. For DRS Referrals, the umpire needs to articulate to the 3rd umpire, why they made their decision, eg: For an LBW, "I gave it not out as the ball is missing the leg stump, or going over the stumps", then if the ball tracker shows that the ball hits the bails or any part of the wicket, then the umpires call is overruled, as their call was ball missing the wickets. If they have accepted the technology, they should not be using the excuse that it may not be 100% accurate, so they say "umpire's call".
2. Get rid of the number of over the shoulder deliveries. The game is so much in favour of batsmen, (short boundaries, bigger bats, 1 bouncer per over) that the bowlers need more weapons. If bowlers are skilled enough to be able to bowl 6 balls at a batsman between their shoulders and the top of their head, then they should be allowed to do it. Umpires, just call wide when they go over the batsmen's head.
3. Remove compulsory retirement scores in junior cricket. If a batter in under 10s or 12s is good enough to bat the whole morning, then let them, don't pull them off when they get to 20 or 30. It inspired me to be a better player seeing players from other clubs score 50s and 100s in under 12s.
4. If players leave the playing area, ie, jump over the rope, they cannot then catch the ball back inside the rope. In theory, the rope has replaced the fence, so if we did not have rope and had actual pickets, would the player be allowed to jump the fence, throw the ball back, and then catch it, no they would not.
5. Force batsmen to be ready when the bowler has reached their bowling mark

I would like to see the leg side wide rule reviewed.
There is a white line leg side (not talking about the outside line) if the ball slides between leg stump and this first “marker” it should be a fair ball.
Good players should be able to hit this anyway and it also allows the bowler some leeway.
Otherwise a batter basically knows all bowls are going to be bowled in a certain area only.
(Our game is currently looking to much like a baseball strike zone from a bowling perspective)
Additionally I hate the big bats.(They make average players better then they really are)

On LBWs:

The square leg umpire be consulted about LBW decisions regarding height.

Reasoning:

Square leg umpire can see better where the batter stands and so currently signals on height for wides over the head and full tosses over the waist but not LBWs.

This consultation with a second pair of eyes would give the main umpire better advice on one aspect of the possible LBW decision

I agree with the Leg Bye on the condition that in first class and above games the players can not use a deferral to check if it was a run. I also think that in 50 over cricket only 1 ball should be used. If the current balls loses colour and hardness too quickly then maybe find a better alternative. And lastly if a player ( batter ) has 3 deferrals in a row go against them then they have an automatic 3 game ban from using a deferral. This should stop time wasting in the game when a batter knows they are out.

We ask this as the last question to guests on the Emerging Cricket Podcast - there have been some interesting ones!

Anyway, here are mine - that haven't already been mentioned above:

1) If the wicket is legally broken by the fielding team, no further runs beyond those completed / in progress can be scored. i.e., why punish direct hits?

2) If the ball strikes either of the batters, no further runs beyond those completed / in progress can be scored. Takes "the spirit" out of it and no more incidences like Stokes CWC Final 2019.

3) You have to either leave from, or return to the field of play when trying to keep the ball alive for a catch / saving a boundary. i.e., you cannot jump from outside the boundary, touch the ball, and then return to the ground outside the boundary.

4) Wide/s or No Ball/s bowled to lose the game - sometimes done in NRR situations - if this happens, an automatic five-run penalty to be awarded to batting team. (https://www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/comments/1b0bbgy/malaysia_bowls_a_deliberate_wide_to_pip_vanuatu/)

For Test cricket get rid of the toss and allow the visitors to decide who bats first

to change something fundamental in how the game is played, we should be clear that it would MATERIALLY improve the spectacle on offer

There's some great suggestions here, by some incredibly respected names in the game. I'm not sure whether any though really improve the game significantly

We're very lucky to have a fabulous game, played in multiple formats, in varying conditions, across the world. Would getting rid of leg byes, for example, really make the game that much better?

There's nothing wrong with tweaking things, but maybe we can also reflect that what's been developed over many years is pretty good already!!