Jason Greenslade’s Delivery

 

Jason Greenslade has been among the top 14 indoor lawn bowlers for many years. His style is not imitated by anyone nor do I recommend that anyone try to imitate it. Particularly for a tallish man maintaining balance must be challenging.

 

Grip

Jason’s grip is a palm grip. His thumb is at the side of the bowl. The thumb is what prevents his bowl from falling throughout his unconventional backswing. In the ready position, Jason has his thumb on the grip but just before starting his delivery, he moves it to a position just past the grip onto the side of the bowl where it can support the bowl as he takes it behind his back. This thumb movement is captured in the close-up above where he is playing with the green bowls.

Stance

Jason stands on the mat with both feet close together pointing in the direction he plans to bowl. What is surprising is that he is slightly pigeon-toed in his stance with the stepping foot angled slightly inward. The reason for this becomes apparent when the delivery is executed. His forward step is actually across his body so that his legs are crossed as he releases the bowl. In his ready position, the bowl is at waist height.

 

Delivery

Greenslade’s draw-back is an exaggerated twist that takes his bowl behind his back. Although he starts lowering his body by bending his knees, he takes the bowl behind his back without raising or lowering it with respect to the ground. He steps forward during this backswing, stepping across his anchor leg. His anchor leg needs to bend in behind his stepping leg more than for any other bowler because otherwise, his forward swinging arm would hit this leg! As his arm comes through he straightens his wrist to set the bowl onto its running surface close to the ground.

Non-bowling Arm

As Jason begins his backswing his shoulders rotate and his non-bowling arm comes forward to maintain his balance (see topmost left picture). When he actually releases his bowl onto the carpet this arm is on his knee for stability. Even though Jason’s shoulders rotate his head is kept steady- eyes on the line.

Follow Through

Jason walks off the mat. If he didn’t I don’t think he could maintain his balance. His bowling arm follows his bowl in a sweeping motion so that his hand rises sometimes almost to his chest.