Today I was practicing at my home club, James Gardens, in Toronto Canada. The
temperature was 3 Celsius. The club is not actual open until May 4th,
but it was sunny and so long as I wore a vest to protect my chest and a long
sleeved shirt to cover my arms the bowling kept me warm enough so long as I was
in the sun.
The James Garden surface is a curly synthetic plastic material that is sand packed and very fast. Some of Canada’s best competitive bowlers (Fred Wallbank, Steve McKerihen) belong here because the surface is said to be very similar in running qualities to the short dry grass in Australia. The same surface is installed at the Likas Bowling complex in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia where I spent this last winter.
The problem I was struggling with is that it is very difficult to deliver a bowl slow enough here to just reach a jack that is within a meter of the hog line. I found that I must use no backswing whatever; the bowling motion needs to start with my bowling arm hanging limp downward and then I must take a very small step forward; furthermore, the forward motion of my delivery arm must not start until my forward foot is well planted. If the forward arm motion began while my body weight was still shifting forward the bowl was several meters too long.
Those who are accustomed to bowling on natural grass in Canada would have to qualitatively change their delivery for such a fast surface and this can be an advantage at the outset of play against them.
The James Garden surface is a curly synthetic plastic material that is sand packed and very fast. Some of Canada’s best competitive bowlers (Fred Wallbank, Steve McKerihen) belong here because the surface is said to be very similar in running qualities to the short dry grass in Australia. The same surface is installed at the Likas Bowling complex in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia where I spent this last winter.
The problem I was struggling with is that it is very difficult to deliver a bowl slow enough here to just reach a jack that is within a meter of the hog line. I found that I must use no backswing whatever; the bowling motion needs to start with my bowling arm hanging limp downward and then I must take a very small step forward; furthermore, the forward motion of my delivery arm must not start until my forward foot is well planted. If the forward arm motion began while my body weight was still shifting forward the bowl was several meters too long.
Those who are accustomed to bowling on natural grass in Canada would have to qualitatively change their delivery for such a fast surface and this can be an advantage at the outset of play against them.
Question. If a bowl doesn’t cross the hog line, is it out of bounds?
ReplyDeleteNo. A bowl is removed if it does not go 14 meters from the front edge of the mat.
ReplyDelete