The MCC are bringing a significant rule change where the ‘bunny-hop’ boundary line catches this month and will be introduced into the MCC’s law in October 2026.
MCC and ICC are set to bring in a significant rule in the sport, where the famous ‘bunny-hop’ catches, which saw fielders jump and touch the ball beyond the boundary line, will not be allowed.
Notably, the spectacular grabs in which fielders push the ball from within the boundary ropes, step out and dive back into catch it again are still allowed. This new law will come into force from October 2026, though it’ll reflect in the ICC playing conditions as soon as next week.
THE NEW BOUNDARY CATCHES LAW:
If fielder’s first touch takes them outside the boundary, their second touch must take them back inside.
Fielders no longer allowed to keep throwing the ball to themselves outside the boundary for as long as they’d like.pic.twitter.com/WDdbxhx58W
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 14, 2025
“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 report quoted a MCC note as saying.
“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.”
