Bowling to a Displaced Jack Near the Boundary at Lawn Bowls

 When the jack gets significantly displaced towards one of the boundary lines and you and the opposing skip each have a single bowl remaining, a special consideration applies. Tactically, it matters who sits shot and how many points are at issue.

What sets this situation apart is:

There is an increased chance that any upcoming delivery will finish out of bounds and become a dead bowl.

With any delivery to a seriously displaced jack, a bowl directed towards it is likely to pass over less disturbed fresh grass where the required bias and weight will be unknown.

If your opponent must bowl before you, you need to watch especially carefully the line taken over any of this fresh green. Your advantage is that you can learn a lot from your opponent’s bowl.

If you must bowl before your opponent, it matters greatly who is sitting shot. If your side has the best bowl already, then the most you can lose is a single point (unless that shot bowl gets removed). Although delivering your bowl inside-out is most often at least partially blocked by bowls around the jack’s previous location, there is the advantage that such delivery will not be teaching your opponent the correct line for his/her last bowl.

If you are already down in the head you probably have to risk bowling outside-in and showing your opponent the line because you need to save points by beating the bowls that are already waiting to be counted against you.

Definitions

Outside-in describes the path of a bowling delivery that starts aimed outside the boundary of the rink and curves back towards the center of the rink.

Inside-out describes the path of a bowling delivery that starts aimed closer to the center of the rink and curves out towards the boundary.