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| Alas, Good-bye Portugal 2018 |
Leads at lawn bowling clubs
are usually the least experienced, most unskilled bowlers.
Singles players deliver their
own jacks, but singles competitions are relatively rare except at the highest
echelons of the sport.
As a consequence, you will
rarely see any player practicing delivering jacks to precise distances. This is
just the way the world is and I accept it. What I am ready to complain about is
the increasingly common practice of skips that simply place the jack at a
proper length when it is delivered too short or place it on the tee when it is
delivered into the ditch. Yes- when a lead fumbles with the jack it is annoying
and it slows down the game; but, to not return it for delivery by the opposing
lead insults the contribution of leads in general and good leads in particular.
In the matches against
touring English teams that I have been
playing in these last few weeks at the
Valverde Bowls Club (before returning to Canada), I have seen this three or
four times. Only once was the jack returned, as required by the rules, to the opposing
lead.
I will grant you that there
may be some skips who are so frustrated by the inability of leads to deliver
the jack the length called for, that they just give up on that part of the
tactical game. On the other hand, I rarely hear a skip call out, “Good jack!”
to his/her lead to encourage them. Dumbing down our game is not going to make it more popular.
Hi Clarke... I'm surprised at several points made in the above article. They seem to be indicative of bowls matches played purely for social reasons, and not competitively.
ReplyDeleteAt our Club it's only the most friendly games where a skip would fail to return an incorrectly delivered jack, and even then only if the lead was consistently failing and everyone was getting fed up.
Lead players, particularly for competitive matches, are worth their weight in gold. Not only do they have to roll the jack to the skip's requirements, but a good lead will also put the team on the front foot. The opposition are left trying to move the bowls delivered close behind the jack.
We have as many competitive singles as pairs and other team games. If you're serious about getting anywhere in Club or County competitions you have to practise delivering and playing to various jack lengths. Being good at very long and very short jacks is crucial, particulary if you're playing away from home. Not only does your opponent get to select his favourite rink, he's also way ahead of you in knowing the right lines. Unless he's really off form on the day, it can be suicidal if you have the jack in the first few ends to play to a standard length.
I study my opponent to look for any weaknesses. If he has a very slow and exaggerated backswing, he may have difficulty adjusting to a very short length. I'll therefore walk right up to the 25 metre mark and take a 1 metre step back. That means I've got a 2 metres margin in front of the ditch to deliver the jack. And I'll practise that delivery by myself with a handful of jacks. On a fast or slow green a full length jack might be enough to upset the opponent.
I'm also surprised it's touring English teams that are failing to return the jack. Makes a mockery of the rules.
Regards, John
"Leads at lawn bowling clubs are usually the least experienced, most unskilled bowlers." Greatest load of BS!!
ReplyDeleteDisagreement is encouraged; vituperative asseveration isn't.
ReplyDelete