Marylebone Cricket Club, better known as the MCC and in which the custodianship of the Laws of Cricket are still vested, last week announced 73 changes to the sport’s existing laws. These are due to take effect on Oct. 1, 2026, and have been announced early so that all of those involved in playing and administering the game have a chance to familiarize themselves in good time.
The changes range from providing minor clarifications and better definitions through to the addressing of more fundamental issues. While all of them contribute to how the game is administered, the focus is on issues topical since the last review of laws in 2022.
Your columnist does wonder how 73 changes are going to be absorbed, understood and correctly implemented at local club level. The more frequent implementation of changes to the laws and the breadth of the most recent ones reflect the MCC’s principles to ensure that the laws are both up to date and fit for the modern game, as well as inclusive for all.
In a column on Nov. 5 I focused on the supply of English willow from which the majority of cricket bats are manufactured. A combination of increased global demand and earlier maturity of willow trees has served to create supply issues and a rise in prices. Responses to this situation have led to the increased use of willow from alternative sources, such as Kashmir, and for permission to use laminated (Type D) bats in junior cricket. These are made by bonding wood with no more than three pieces and a single piece as the face of the blade, as opposed to traditional bats which are carved from a single piece of willow. After extensive research, Law 5.8 has been amended to permit their use by all age groups. The impact of the change has been welcomed by bat makers, who say that there will be less willow wastage.
The other vital component of playing cricket, the ball, has also received attention in the recent revision of the laws. Although a small tolerance in size and weight has long existed for men’s cricket balls — 156 to 163 grams and 224 to 229 mm — this has not been the case for those used in women’s and junior cricket. In response to discussions initiated by current and former women’s cricketers, the MCC has worked closely with ball manufacturers to introduce new size and weight limits for balls used in different formats, including women’s and junior cricket. This has resulted in three categories of new ball, specified in Law 4.1. Size 1 is for men’s cricket and remains unchanged. Size 2 weighs between 142 and 149 grams and measures between 21.5 and 22 cm in circumference. A Size 3 new ball weighs between 133 and 144 grams and measures between 20.5 and 21 cm.
Cricketers and their backers have long been ingenious in testing the laws of the game. In 1771, “Shock” White attempted to use a bat as wide as the stumps. The response of the lawmakers of the time was to restrict a bat’s width to that which remains today.
Much more recently there have been spectacular initiatives by players in boundary fielding and catching, culminating in the so-called “bunny-hop” catch. In this, the fielder catches the ball near the boundary but realizes that momentum is going to carry him or her over the boundary, and tosses the ball in the air. In cases where the ball descends outside the boundary, the fielder intercepts the ball whilst airborne, tosses it up back into the field of play, and jumps back to the field to catch the ball before it hits the ground.
This practice has been most noticeable in T20 cricket and has been facilitated by the increased fitness levels of players and by the shortening of boundaries, creating space behind them. This was not the case in the past, with boundaries usually abutting spectator areas. Lawmakers have addressed the “bunny-hop” issue by limiting any fielder, who has gone outside the boundary, to touching the ball while airborne only once. Then, having done so, to be wholly grounded within the boundary for the rest of the duration of the action. The revised law still allows the fielder to jump from outside the boundary and touch the ball once while airborne. However, after that first touch, every time the fielder contacts the ground, he or she must do so within the field of play. If the fielder lands or steps outside the boundary during the rest of the action, even after completing the catch, a boundary will be awarded.
Who said cricket was dull? It certainly has many idiosyncrasies. In an under-18 county match in England last year, a batter hit a ball which then cannoned into the stumps at the non-striker’s end, rebounding all the way back down the pitch to hit the batter’s wicket. Amazingly, under the existing law, that is out bowled. If the ball had hit either the umpire or a fielder and rebounded to break the stumps the batter would not have been out. Law 32.1.2 has been amended to prevent this bizarre dismissal from recurring.
One of the new changes in the laws relates specifically to Test and multi-day cricket. It has been the case that if a wicket fell toward the close of the day’s play, the batting side might choose to send in a lower-order batter instead of one from the top order. The aim was to preserve that batter for the following day in the hope that the “nightwatchman” could survive for the rest of the day. If the batter fell in the last over, play would end for the day, even if there were deliveries left in the over.
An extreme example of the use of this tactic occurred in the third Test match between Australia and England in Melbourne on Dec. 26, 2025. Both teams had been dismissed on the first day and one over remained for Australia to navigate in their second innings. Instead of sending in both openers, Australia opted to replace one of them with their No. 11 batter Scott Boland, who survived the over.
This option may no longer be favored as, from October 2026, Law 12.5.2 will be amended to read “The final over of a day’s play will not end if there is a wicket.” The logic behind this is that the current rule was judged to give an unfair advantage to the batting side, especially if conditions were favorable to bowlers. There is no element of time-saving since the deliveries would need to be bowled the following day. It also denied spectators of potential drama late in the day’s play. There have been famous and heroic examples of the deeds of nightwatchmen, a term no longer considered to be appropriate.
Jason Gillespie was deputed to be Australia’s nightwatchman on April 19, 2006, the first day of the second Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram. Six overs remained in the day’s play, all of which he survived, scoring five runs. Over the course of the next two-and-a-half rain-interrupted days, Gillespie went on to fashion one of cricket’s most unexpected innings, scoring an unbeaten 201. This was the first and only double century scored by a designated nightwatchman in the history of Test match cricket. It proved to be Gillespie’s last Test match innings and it is unlikely that his record will be broken.
Other law changes focus on providing better definitions of dead ball, no ball, wide, short runs, obstruction, hit wicket, leg-before-wicket decisions and player conduct. These aim to remove confusion among players and officials and ensure fair play.
Cricket is fast evolving and expanding geographically, driven by the growth of the T20 format. Its laws need to keep pace not only with this evolution, but with the ingenuity of those who play and coach the game. In that sense, nothing has changed.
