Planned changes to boundary line catches

The International Cricket Council (ICC) proposes to change the rules of boundary line catching, particularly the ones with action taking place outside the boundary. The world body has written to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to review snares taken with multiple jumps and multiple airborne contacts with the ball before the catch is completed inside the boundary.

1. At any time, if a fielder is touching the ball and the ground, they must be wholly inside the boundary. This is covered in Law 19.5.1, and has not changed at all.

2. If a fielder's first touch of the ball is while airborne, then they must have been inside the boundary before they left the ground to make that touch. This is covered by 19.5.2, and has also not changed. It means a fielder can never wait for the ball beyond the boundary, jump up and parry the ball back into play.

3. Where more than one fielder is involved in a catch, point 1 and 2 apply to each and every fielder. Each fielder's first touch of the ball must come while they are inside, or having taken off from inside, the boundary.


4. Under the new Law, a fielder must be inside the boundary before they first touch the ball and, if they then touch the ball in the air having been grounded outside the boundary, must next land inside the boundary. They cannot make multiple touches of the ball outside the boundary. Once the fielder has grounded any part of their body over the boundary, the next time they touch the ball they must land wholly inside the boundary, and all of their contact with the ground after this point must be within the boundary.

5. If a player is involved in a relay catch, where they parry the ball back inside to another fielder, the fielder who touches the ball outside the boundary must land wholly inside - even if they don't subsequently touch the ball. This indicates that the fielder who parries the ball back would need to land wholly within the boundary.

6. If a fielder jumps from beyond the boundary and parries the ball back inside the boundary, but the fielder lands outside the boundary, then the ball is to be considered grounded outside the boundary - even if the ball were to land back inside - because the fielder has not met the conditions of landing back inside the boundary.

7. Once the fielder has jumped from outside the boundary and touched the ball whilst airborne, the limit on them going over the boundary applies for the whole of the rest of the delivery. So a fielder cannot jump from outside the boundary, catch the ball, land inside the boundary, and then throw the ball up again (if they are losing their balance) and step outside the boundary again. The fielder gets one go, and one go only, at being outside the boundary.

Some have suggested a return to the old Law - before 2010 the Law stated that before any contact with the ball (not just the first contact with the ball), a fielder must be fully grounded within the boundary. That meant that if a fielder stepped outside the boundary, they needed to be grounded back inside the boundary again before making any subsequent contact with the ball. However, that is probably too draconian - it would rule out some spectacular fielding that feels like it is now fully part of the game