Cricket's new fielding law change: What is the boundary rule amended by MCC that will come into effect next week?

Indian Express

2 days ago

In a significant rule to buck the trend of fielders using their acrobatics to prevent boundaries and have a second attempt at a catch near the ropes, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), custodian of the Laws of Cricket, has amended the boundary-fielding rules, which will be put into effect by the ICC next year.
The MCC has chosen to amend the fielding rule after growing concerns over the fairness of catches taken beyond the boundary ropes. While a catch was previously deemed illegal if the fielder came in contact with both the ground and the ball at the same time beyond the ropes, irrespective of the number of times the played may have hopped to keep the ball in play, the new rule limits fielders to one jump behind the boundary.
According to reports, the MCC has considered rewriting the rules after suggestions from ICC's cricket committee, referring specifically to a Big Bash League catch from Australia pacer Michael Neser in 2023. Attempting to complete a catch while going well past the fence, Neser hopped twice in the air to keep the ball in play before parrying it back inside the ropes to complete a catch.
'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.'
The MCC has changed the law to make catches like this 'bunny hop' one from Michael Neser illegal. In short:
If the fielder's first touch takes them outside the boundary, their *second* touch must take them back inside the field of play.
Basically, you're no longer allowed to… pic.twitter.com/1jaqAev0hy
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) June 14, 2025
Under the current Law 19.5.2, an effort beyond the ropes is deemed legal if the fielder's last contact with the ground before first touching the ball was within the boundary and they do not touch the ball and the ground outside simultaneously.
The MCC has changed the law to make catches like this 'bunny hop' one from Michael Neser illegal. In short:
If the fielder's first touch takes them outside the boundary, their *second* touch must take them back inside the field of play.
Basically, you're no longer allowed to… pic.twitter.com/1jaqAev0hy
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) June 14, 2025
The MCC noted that though Neser's effort 'fulfilled the law, it felt like the fielder had — quite literally — gone too far.'
The MCC added: '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.'
The Updated Fielding Law 19.5.2
The updated law will also bar fielders from repeatedly touch the ball airborne while assisting a teammate during relay catches, which will now require all players to be in the field of play during the catch.
It reads, 'A fielder who is not in contact with the ground is considered to be grounded beyond the boundary if, prior to their first contact with the ball, their final contact with the ground was not entirely within the boundary.'
It continues, 'If a fielder's first contact with the ball does not contravene 19.5.2, that fielder may then jump from outside the boundary in order to make contact with the ball whilst airborne. After making contact with the ball once airborne, all subsequent contact with the ground by that fielder, until the ball becomes dead, must be within the field of play.'
While the laws will be put into effect immediately at the start of the next ICC World Test Championship cycle, starting June 17 during the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Test, the MCC will formally initiate the rule during its next cycle in October 2026.