London, Jun 14: The dramatic, acrobatic boundary catches that have thrilled fans in recent years—most notably Michael Neser’s now-famous “bunny hop” in the Big Bash League—are set to become a thing of the past.

As part of an important law revision, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), custodians of the Laws of Cricket, has confirmed a significant update to the rule concerning boundary catches. This new version will be adopted in ICC’s playing conditions from later this month and officially enter the MCC’s Laws in October 2026.

The revision, which comes following a request from the ICC Cricket Committee, aims to address what many in the cricketing world have viewed as a growing inconsistency between spectacular athleticism and fairness in the spirit of the game. The MCC noted that while recent interpretations of the law have enabled “some spectacular fielding,” they have also “created room for some unusual-looking catches that, to the majority of the cricketing public, feel unfair.”

The incident that accelerated the review was Michael Neser’s stunning catch in BBL 2023 for Brisbane Heat. Chasing a lofted drive from Sydney Sixers' Jordan Silk, Neser caught the ball just inside the rope but, realizing his momentum would carry him over the boundary, tossed the ball up mid-air. He landed outside the boundary, jumped again—while still airborne—palmed the ball back into play, then returned to the field of play to complete the catch.

Though legal under Law 19.5.2 at the time—which states that the fielder's last contact with the ground before first touching the ball must be within the boundary—Neser’s “bunny hop” sparked widespread debate. The MCC, in its official explanation, described the move as one that “fulfilled the law,” but added that it “felt like the fielder had—quite literally—gone too far.”

Inspired by Matt Renshaw’s similar effort in BBL 2020, where he tapped the ball back from beyond the boundary for Tom Banton to complete the catch, Neser’s play was a masterclass in exploiting the law’s loopholes. But such spectacles, while technically sound, struck a dissonant chord with traditionalists and fans alike.

While some advocated a full rollback to the pre-2010 law—when fielders had to re-ground themselves inside the boundary before any second contact with the ball—the MCC dismissed that option as “probably too draconian.” It would eliminate modern classics like Harleen Deol’s catch against England in 2021 and Alex Hales’ BBL stunner in 2020, both of which were legal but wouldn’t have been under the older version.

Instead, the MCC has introduced what it terms a “solution” that limits any fielder who has gone outside the boundary to only one airborne contact with the ball, and then mandates that they be “wholly grounded within the boundary for the rest of the duration of that delivery.”

Their guidance is explicit: “MCC has devised a new wording where the ‘bunny hop’ wholly beyond the boundary is removed, but these catches where the fielder pushes the ball up from inside the boundary, steps outside and then dives back in to catch the ball, are permitted.”

This also applies to relay catches. If a fielder touches the ball while airborne beyond the boundary and then passes it to a teammate inside the field, they themselves must return and land within the boundary before the catch can be deemed fair. “Even if the ball is parried—to another fielder or inside the field of play—if the fielder lands outside the boundary, or subsequently steps outside, then a boundary will be scored,” the MCC clarified.

“For clarity,” the statement continues, “that means the fielder gets one chance, and one chance only, to touch the ball having jumped from outside the boundary. After that point, the boundary becomes a hard line—and any time they touch the ground in that delivery, whatever else happens, they must be inside.”

The updated law will be implemented in ICC matches beginning with the World Test Championship’s new cycle, which kicks off on June 17 with Sri Lanka hosting Bangladesh in Galle. The MCC’s codified version will come into effect in October 2026, when the next official round of law changes takes place.

(IANS)

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