Advantages a Triples Team Could Have

Beside the skills of the team members as individuals, what advantages can one triples team have over another in lawn bowls?

In the opening end, each team member delivers an opening bowl, under circumstances where (s)he does not know the amount of grass to give for a draw shot. The lead can get no advice, but the other team members need to be able to convert information from those deliveries to arrive at an aim line useful for their own shots. Therefore, team members must know their partners’ bowls. For example, if the lead reports that on the left side (s)he needs to aim at the boundary mark, the second should know that, for his(her) bowls, that translates into aiming, for example, two feet wide of the boundary marker. Or if only the vice has bowled the wide side in one of the directions, the skip needs to be able to interpret the information that the vice gained aiming on that side. The object is to provide to each team member whatever useful information another team member possesses; but, in a form that is adjusted for any differences between their bowls and/or their handedness.

A second area of potential advantage is in communication between the head and the mat. This is done by signaling, since calling out invariably proves inadequate over this distance, as we all have experienced. Signals should enable the person at the head to direct, and the person on the mat to ask questions. For some signals it matters little if they are obvious to opponents. For others, the signal’s meaning must be opaque to the opponents. Signals cannot meet every need. In complex situations, when the rules allow, the bowler should be called to the head to confer with the skip.