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Sunday, June 11, 2017

How Many Lawn Bowls Matches are Won by Six Points or Less?



....Quite a large percentage, right! Well how many matches contain within them a six point conversion? ....Or two three point conversions?  What I am getting at is that a lot of matches swing on the skip making a few big shots with one of those final bowls.

My co-blogger, John McKinnie who writes Bowling for Gold, makes the point in a recent offering that some shots deserve more careful preparation than normal. Forget that some people, like Ryan Bester, bowl so fast that you would think he doesn't prepare at all. I am talking about mortals!

Particularly if the shot required is something other than a draw shot, I think one needs to really methodically go through a check-list in preparation; not to increase your nervousness or increase the tension but to settle oneself and make sure you have brought to mind everything you have learned.

I skipped a team that won a competition at James Gardens on Saturday. The difference we won by could be accounted for by last shot or second-last shot conversions. Among these, I scored on three out of four drives where we were down at least three in each head. Yes, I was also lucky in some of these outcomes, after lucky after I hit the head, but those successful shots ' gave our side a chance' in those ends.

The moral: practice those rescue shots and then take a few seconds to prepare before trying to performing them.

2 comments:

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  2. Thanks for the mention, Clarke. In those few moments of thought I'm effectively acting as skip, giving myself the advice I would give a player in the same situation if I was skip, e.g. 'Don't play backhand. There are two short opposition bowls you're at risk of knocking up. Play forehand. You can draw, but doesn't matter if you're a bit too long since you can wick off this bowl, or carry the jack. We've got bowls at the back. Whatever you do, don't be short.' Biggest benefit from a few moments of thought is I'm playing far fewer short bowls. Regards, John

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