The spectacular boundary catches taken by Michael Neser and Tom Banton - with an assist from Matt Renshaw - in the Big Bash League (BBL) will not be legal under the updated law regarding boundary catches that is set to become operational later this month.
As per the updated law, which will be integrated into the ICC's playing conditions this month and then into the MCC's laws in October 2026, a fielder who is airborne can only touch the ball once beyond the boundary and will need to come back inside the field for the catch to be called fair. The "bunny hop" that Neser pulled off - palming the ball up as a second contact while airborne outside the boundary but also landing outside - will no longer be legal.
During BBL 2023, Neser, playing for Brisbane Heat, was chasing a lofted drive at wide long-off from Sydney Sixers' Jordan Silk. Neser caught the ball with both hands but his momentum took him over the rope. Neser, attuned to the Boundary Law, tossed the ball up initially while airborne, landed outside the boundary, jumped again, and palmed the ball back into the field with both feet in the air before hopping back into the playing field to finish the catch. Silk was ruled out, and he walked back shaking his head.
Neser said he was inspired by fellow Heat player Renshaw's effort to catch Hobart Hurricanes' Matthew Wade during BBL 2020 at the Gabba. Responding to a powerful lofted stroke from Wade, Renshaw ran to his left towards wide long-on and caught the ball a yard inside the boundary line. He then lost his balance and skipped over the rope but before that he lobbed that ball up. Realising the ball would land outside the boundary line, he skipped again to spike the ball back into play for Banton to complete the catch, while he himself landed outside the boundary line.
The fairness of both catches was debated widely and there were strong calls on both occasions to tweak the existing law, which was last updated in 2010. As per Law 19.5.2, the fielder's last contact with the ground before they first touch the ball must be within the boundary (this part of the law will remain in the new iteration). As things currently stand, the fielder cannot touch the ball and the ground outside the boundary at the same time. If the fielder meets those criteria and completes the catch, the catch is legal.
Earlier this year, however, the ICC cricket committee asked the MCC, the custodians of the laws, to review the law in question and the two bodies have worked together on the new version. An MCC note, which was sent to member boards by the ICC, said that while the existing rule had "led to some spectacular" fielding, it had also created room for "some unusual-looking catches that, to the majority of the cricketing public, feel unfair".
Describing the Neser catch, the MCC said, the Heat fielder "bunny hopped" before completing the catch "inside" the boundary. While it fulfilled the law, the note said it "felt like the fielder had - quite literally - gone too far".
While there have been suggestions, including from players such as Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, to dial back to the law to what it was before 2010, the MCC said doing that was "probably too draconian". Before 2010, if a fielder stepped outside the boundary after their first contact with the ball, they needed to have touched the ground inside the boundary again before making any subsequent contact. According to the MCC, that would "rule out some spectacular fielding that feels like it is now fully part of the game. Examples include catches from Harleen Deol (vs England in 2021) and Alex Hales (in BBL 2020), where the fielders don't reground themselves inside the boundary before taking the catch, but land inside the boundary to complete it."
By way of a "solution", the MCC has said that if a fielder goes outside the boundary and jumps up to make a subsequent contact with the ball, they must land within the field of play; otherwise a boundary will be scored. "Multiple touches" outside the boundary will no longer be allowed, as was the case when Neser caught Silk, the MCC note said.
"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."
The same would apply in the case of relay catches. The fielder who has touched the ball outside the boundary would need to jump back inside the field, even if the catch is completed by a team-mate. "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."
While the ICC playing conditions will be updated as early as the new WTC cycle, which starts with Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh on June 17 in Galle, the law itself will take effect from October 2026, when the next round of changes will come into play.