The Marylebone Cricket Club - custodian of the Laws of Cricket - has taken steps to tether the bails to the stumps to ensure injuries to the eyes of a keeper and/or fielder will not occur again.
Five years ago, South African keeper Mark Boucher's career was ended after he was struck in the eye by a flying bail while keeping up to the stumps to Imran Tahir.
Boucher suffered a lacerated sclera while losing his lens, iris and pupil as well as permanently suffering sensitivity to bright light.
While this was an isolated incident, the MCC have ensured it will never happen again.
Furthermore, the MCC has given umpires further powers to reprimand misbehaving players.
There will be four different levels of which players can be charged, with umpires given the ability to impose penalty runs and the option to send players off both temporarily and permanently.
"Handling the ball" will no longer be recognised as a dismissal and has instead been merged into obstructing the field (you can definitely stump your mates with this little piece of trivia).
Other notable law changes include restrictions on the size of bats and increasing the amount of time a bowler has to run out a non-striker during their run-up.
“MCC has left no stone unturned in researching and redrafting the new Laws of Cricket and has done so in order to make the laws work in a way that makes sense to players, umpires and spectators,” MCC laws manager Fraser Stewart said.
The changes will take effect from October 1 this year.
