Boundary catches deemed illegal after latest MCC law change with ‘bunny hops’ to not be allowed hereafter in play.
MCC changes law to make boundary catches with ‘bunny hops’ illegal.
The new boundary catch regulation, which goes into effect later this month, will make the sensational boundary catches made by Tom Banton and Michael Neser in the Big Bash League (BBL)—with help from Matt Renshaw—illegal.
The amended law states that a fielder who is airborne may only touch the ball once beyond the boundary and must return to the field for the catch to be deemed fair. It will be incorporated into the ICC’s playing conditions this month and the MCC’s statutes in October 2026.
The “bunny hop” that Neser performed, which involved palming the ball up as a second contact while flying outside the border but landing outside as well, will no longer be permitted.
Neser was pursuing a lofted drive from Sydney Sixers player Jordan Silk at long range during the 2023 BBL while he was playing for the Brisbane Heat. Despite using both hands to catch the ball, Neser’s momentum carried him over the rope. With both feet in the air, Neser threw the ball up in the air, landed outside the boundary, leaped again, palmed it back into the field and then hopped back into the playing field to complete the catch. Neser was aware of the Boundary Law. He shook his head and walked back, ruling out silk.
Both times, there were considerable calls to amend the current statute, which was last modified in 2010, and there was much discussion about how fair the two catches were. The fielder must make their final contact with the ground before touching the ball, as required by Law 19.5.2 (this portion of the law will continue in the new iteration). The fielder is now prohibited from simultaneously touching the ball and the ground outside the boundary. The catch is legal if the fielder satisfies those requirements and completes the 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.
“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.”