A Strategy for Playing Triples at Lawn Bowls

In order to win an end of lawn bowls a head must be built that will provide a chance for the skip to convert the head with his/her last bowl if the side is down. For the skip to be down multiple bowls in the head with no realistic way to change it is anathema.

Lead’s Play

In order to protect against this situation the lead should deliver no short bowls! Trying to assure that all lead bowls are behind the jack is more important than gaining shot. The next most important object is to have at least one good second. The lead’s first bowl in the end must therefore be delivered with the greatest margin for error. If necessary it can be aimed to end up 1-2 meters behind the jack just to be sure that it is not short.

Vice’s Play

With most strategies it is the lead who can afford to play with the bowls with the least bias. According to my personal view it is the vice that needs the narrowest bowls. The role of my vice is: first, to place bowls behind or next to the jack and obtain a good second, if the lead has failed in these objectives; then, secondarily: if the lead has met these objectives, the vice should try to rest bowls on whichever bowls are closest behind the jack, no matter which team has these bowls. Bowls resting on other bowls already behind the jack will necessarily beat the bowls they rest against. Moreover, a bowl touching a bowl behind is locked in position and usually cannot be driven out. Delivering such  a chop-and-lie or resting bowl is most easily done when the delivery path is as straight as possible. This is why my vice’s bowls should be low bias. So long as the lead has kept bowls behind the jack, narrow bowls should still be able to find some clear route into the head.

If the opponents are lying shot and there are two or more bowls blocking the front of the head my vice will often be called on to play a weighted shot to clear out blocking bowls in keeping with the overall strategic objective of giving the skip a high probability path to the jack.

Skip’s Play

The skip should use large, heavy, wide-drawing bowls. These bowls are what  may be required to draw around blocking bowls, draw close to the re-spot position at the back, trail the jack, or drive the jack out of bounds. If the opponents have the last bowl and are up bowls in the head before your side’s last bowl, as skip I must  not only try to convert the head but must place that bowl where it is dangerous for the other side to try to drive it off.