Maxwell not a fan of boundary catch rule

After taking one of the best outfield catches of the year at Headingley yesterday, Glenn Maxwell says he doesn’t like the law change that made the spectacular feat possible.

Maxwell caught Liam Plunkett’s skied slog on the mid-wicket boundary, but as momentum carried him over the rope, the allrounder flicked the ball in the air, bounced over the rope and back again to complete the stunning catch mid-air.

Watch: Maxwell's ridiculous boundary line catch (restrictions apply)

But the amazing piece of fielding wasn’t always possible. Prior to October 2013, a fielder needed to have started in the field of play and be grounded in bounds before securing the catch.

Quick single: Maxwell learns lessons to claim stunning catch

The law was changed to reward athleticism on the boundary edge, but Maxwell said he liked it the way it was.

“I don’t think it makes a whole lot of sense,” Maxwell said of the law change. “I think you should have to get back into the boundary.

“I think if you look at the basketball rule. You have to jump from inside to throw it back in, you can’t jump up in the air and catch it on the way back in.

“You’ve got to make sure your feet have landed inside the court and I think it should be the same in cricket.

“But while we’re taking catches on our side it doesn’t really bother me, but I know if I was a batsman I’d be pretty upset if that was the dismissal.

“You’ve just go to play the rules you’re given.”

Quick single: Quick Cummins slow to check the speed gun

Maxwell blew up on Twitter earlier this year when Sydney Thunder fast bowler Josh Lalor caught Melbourne Stars captain Cameron White over the boundary line in the same fashion during a KFC Big Bash League clash, and was unaware the law had been changed.

The Twitter tirade led to the Marylebone Cricket Club – the custodians of the Laws of cricket – clarifying the issue on their website.

Quick single: Talk of the terraces from Headingley

And while Maxwell can make the impossible look elementary, he said the law change had made one of the game’s most difficult acts “a lot easier”.

 “Obviously I didn’t really want to have to do it, but I lost a bit of balance on the boundary line so I thought I had to throw it up, and obviously with the law being like it is, jump from over the rope and back in and catch it in mid-air,” Maxwell said.

“I think it makes it easier (the law change) as an outfielder but also you’ve got to be aware of the rope as well but it made the catch a lot easier to complete, to be able to jump from back over (the boundary) and catch it in the air.”

Watch: England force series decider (restrictions apply)

It wasn’t the only piece of extraordinary fielding from Maxwell in Australia’s series-levelling three-wicket loss to England in Leeds.

Maxwell had earlier pulled off the catch of the series, a full-length dive at backward point to reel in an Eoin Morgan bullet one-handed and end the England skipper’s sublime innings on 92.

However, nothing should be a surprise when it involves the Victorian allrounder, who took a one-handed catch on the boundary in an exhibition match for Yorkshire earlier this year, while holding an ice-cream.

Clean as a whistle // Visualised Photography