Cricket Makes Its Way To The Central Valley

Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, December 25, 2025…

• When you drive or walk past a public park, one of the sounds you’ll likely hear is the thwack of a bat before seeing a ball flying through the air. But at some parks in Fresno, these aren’t due to that all-American sport you may be thinking of. 
• Some mental health clinicians are worried AI is coming for their jobs. In the Fall,  more than 200 of them gathered for an online forum to learn more.

With Fresno’s First Public Cricket Pitches, Players Anticipate ‘Explosion’ Of The Sport

When Jajpal Singh Sidhu moved to Fresno last fall, he hardly knew anyone. Originally from Punjab, India, the 23-year-old tried to find community in a way that anyone else might: he searched for a club that played his favorite sport. There was just one problem. His favorite sport is relatively obscure in his new country. “When I was new here, [I was] trying to find people who play cricket,” he said.

Cricket, like baseball, is played with a ball and a bat – but the similarities end there. The game with worldwide appeal, which was created in England centuries before baseball became one of America’s favorite sports, involving wickets instead of bases and a long, rectangular pitch instead of a diamond. In India, Sidhu played in a national cricket league, and he came to the U.S. in the hopes of continuing the sport at a competitive level. After several months of searching, he came across the Fresno Cricket Club’s Facebook page. The rest is history. “I texted them, and they said they play in the evening… They asked me, ‘you can come tomorrow and join us,’” he said.

The Fresno Cricket Club is a professional group that has been in operation since 2007. But until recently, the club didn’t have a dedicated space to play or practice, and its hundred-odd members had to travel to the south or north of the state for tournaments.

But that is now changing. The City of Fresno earlier this summer installed cricket pitches at two city parks: Jaswant Singh Khalra Neighborhood Park in West Fresno, and the Fresno Regional Sports Complex downtown. Baldev Birk, president of the Fresno Cricket Club, is delighted. “I think the explosion of cricket that’s about to happen here in the Central Valley is going to be amazing, and it’s going to be something amazing to watch,” Birk said.

AI Safety Expert Warns Parents To Watch Kids In Wake Of Chatbot Ban

A leading artificial intelligence researcher is warning that Character.AI’s plan to ban chatbots for kids by late November may leave them susceptible to self-harm or suicide if they detach from an AI companion too quickly.

Jodi Halpern, a UC Berkeley bioethics professor, celebrated the ban overall, but wants parents to be on the lookout for emotional changes or needs in the weeks following children’s separation from their chatbots.

“Parents do not realize that their kids love these bots and that they might feel like their best friend just died or their boyfriend just died,” Halpern said. “Seeing how deep these attachments are and aware that at least some suicidal behavior has been associated with the abrupt loss, I want parents to know that it could be a vulnerable time.”

Character.AI announced its decision to disable chatbots for kids in late October, in response to political pressure and news reports of teens who had become suicidal after prolonged use.

One of those teens, a 14-year-old boy from Florida, fell in love with his chatbot and spent days on end confiding in it and exchanging sexual fantasies. When his mother took away his phone as punishment for misbehaving at school, the boy became despondent, a state his mother interpreted after his death as a blend of withdrawal and grief.