Bunny hops will no more count legitimate as MCC brings major changes to boundary-catching rules

‌The Marylebone Cricket Club, the custodian of laws in cricket, has come up with an updated rule in relation to catches being taken by players on the boundaries, after stepping out of the playing area. The new update allows the player to have contact with the ball only once before going out of the boundary rope. And after going out, if they go airborne to make any subsequent contact with the cherry, then they should land within the boundary for the catch to count. This will hold good even if the ball is relayed to another fielder with the fielder outside the area, who pushes or passes it to the catcher, required to land inside after his second touch with the ball.

The updated rules are set to be operational and will be included in ICC’s playing conditions from the new World Test Championship cycle set to start on June 17 with the Test series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. However, the law itself will enter the MCC’s rule book in October 2026, when the next round of changes comes into play.

The newest update would deem the famous bunny hops from Michael Neser and Matt Renshaw - who assisted Tom Banton-  in the Big Bash League illegal since the players made multiple contacts with the non-playing area, though they were airborne while trying to keep the ball in play. The International Cricket Council’s cricket committee had, earlier in the year, recommended the MCC to review the boundary-catching rules in question and both bodies have come up with a new solution.

The MCC’s note, which was sent to the member boards by the ICC, quoted that “ though the existing rule had resulted in some spectacular fielding, it also gave way to some unusual-looking catches that, to the majority of the cricketing public, feel unfair.”

"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 note explained.

"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.

"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."