The ICC will adopt the boundary catch rule this month with the series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has made a massive change in the rules related to boundary catches. The dismissal involving ‘bunny hops,’ or multiple airborne touches outside the rope, will now be treated as illegal. The new set of rules will be effective from October next year.
Currently, as per the earlier law, fielders are allowed to take the catches while being in contact with the ball, despite being outside the boundary rope, as long as they remain airborne. Over the years, we have seen several players take spectacular catches in a similar way.
However, dismissals involving bunny hops or multiple airborne touches outside the rope became the talking point during the Big Bash League (BBL) 2023 when Michael Neser pulled off a blinder, and it raised a massive debate about whether such types of catches should be allowed or not.
Michael Neser, who was stationed at the wide long-off boundary, took the catch but couldn’t balance himself and went past the ropes. However, he showed brilliant presence of mind as he tossed the ball into the air while still airborne, landed beyond the field, jumped again to tap it back mid-air, and then re-entered the field to complete the catch.
Since then, such kinds of dismissals have become one of the major talking point, and now the MCC has come up with the changes. According to the new law, a catch will be considered only if the fielders make contact with the ball just once while being beyond the ropes.
The MCC stated: “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.”
“Our solution has been to limit any fielder who has gone outside the boundary to touching the ball while airborne only once, and then, having done so, to be wholly grounded within the boundary for the rest of the duration of that delivery.”
This rule will apply to the relay catches as well. The MCC statement added:
“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.“
“For clarity, 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 International Cricket Council (ICC) will adopt the boundary catch rule this month with the series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which will start the new ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycle (2025-27). The changes in the rule will be effective from October 2026.
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