The Number of ‘Seconds’ at Bowls

Regularly you hear lawn bowlers asking from the mat, “How many up/down are we?” Much less often heard, but just as important, particularly if your side has the last bowl, is the question, “How many seconds do we have?”

When you have multiple seconds, you have the opportunity to drive out the opposing shot bowl with the last bowl and collect a multiple count. If you have two or more seconds you can even risk losing one of your own bowls so long as the opposing shot bowl is also removed.

It is usually important that the target shot bowl should be at least even with or behind the jack, because iff you touch the jack your calculation of the expected profit in the count can change dramatically and adversely. If you have two or more seconds and one is a good second you can even consider driving out the opposing shot bowl when the opponents have the last bowl.

It is easier to connect with a bowl than the smaller jack. The probability of making that contact is enhanced if the distance of the jack from the mat is at least medium or most preferably short.

The 14 Meter Block Shot at Lawn Bowls

I have read that 90% of the natural lawn bowling greens in Canada run below 12 seconds. On such slow grass, the aiming angle for a draw shot is tight. With most bowls, one is aiming close to the boundary marker at the front ditch. A bowl that is sitting in the normal draw just 14 meters in front of the mat can block many shots intended to disrupt the head.  Surprisingly in four years of bowling, I had never seen this intentionally attempted.

Last Thursday night at the Etobicoke LBC I was skipping a triples team and when I arrived at the mat for my deliveries my side was holding three close shots with a few other bowls out front, blocking one of the approaches to the head. My opponent had last bowl. Three times I delivered very short bowls just over 14 meters out from the mat. (Any bowl that does not travel at least 14 meters is dead and must be removed from the rink.) The first two of my bowls may have caused the opposing skip to miss his takeout shots. His third bowl hit one of my blockers. The result:-+3 for my side! Furthermore, I didn’t risk damaging the head with my own bowls.

To deliver a bowl just over 14 meters I have found that I simply let my bowling arm hang vertically at my side, place my advancing foot in its normal forward position and then push out the bowl on its intended line without moving either foot. If your normal aim point is the boundary marker, the aim line should be slightly off-center and away from the side of the rink where you want your bowl to finish.

One of the unexpected advantages of such a short blocker is that for many bowlers the blocker is in their field of vision as they look down the rink to their aim point and is an annoying distraction even if the blocker is somewhat misplaced away from the actual draw line.

This tactic only has a chance to work on slow greens where both it is difficult to ’use the mat’ to get around a short bowl and when one side of the rink is already risky for the opposing skip. When these two conditions are not present it is still a better play to put your bowls behind the head as ‘catchers’ or cover a/the respotting position(s).