The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Laws of Cricket has added a new rule making “bunny hop” boundary catches illegal. This adjustment will be put into the ICC’s playing conditions later this month and officially adopted to the Laws of Cricket in October 2026. The decision was taken following occurrences in the Big Bash League (BBL), specifically Michael Neser’s acrobatic performance in BBL 2023.
According to the amended MCC Law 19.5.2, fielders will no longer be able to make several flying touches on the ball while outside of the boundary.
Under the new regulation, if a fielder jumps from outside the boundary and touches the ball, they must land completely inside the field of play for the catch to be considered genuine. Any further touch with the ground outside the ropes during the same delivery, even if it does not involve the ball, will result in a boundary.
“The MCC has devised a new language that eliminates the ‘bunny hop’ completely outside the boundary, but these catches, in which the fielder pushes the ball up from inside the boundary, steps outside, and then dives back in to grab the ball, are permissible. Our approach has been to limit any fielder who has gone outside the boundary to only one touch of the ball while airborne, and then to remain completely grounded within the boundary for the remainder of the delivery,” the MCC note stated.
The updated law also applies to relay catches. If a fielder pushes the ball to a teammate while beyond the boundary and fails to return inside before the ball goes dead, a boundary will be awarded regardless of the final catch. While the prior law, which went into effect in 2010, resulted in unusual-looking and arbitrary dismissals.
Notably, there were recommendations to return to pre-2010 standards, which required fielders to ground themselves inside the field before making any more contact. However, MCC believed it would be too punitive and would throw out real efforts, such as Harleen Deol‘s 2021 catch or Alex Hales’ 2020 boundary attempt.
India
