When to Change the Length and Mat Position at Lawn Bowls

 

Sometimes you will be playing other singles players or other teams that completely outclass you or yours. I acknowledge that in these cases, there is no tactical move that can realistically win for you. In that situation ( on the rare ends when the option is yours ), choose the jack length and mat position most comfortable for your side and try to make the head tight by executing your best deliveries.

BUT- when the game is competitive; that is, when there is no more than four points dividing the teams, stick to your predetermined strategic plan for the match unless your side observes something in the opponent’s game that suggests an even better plan.

HOWEVER in a close match, if your side falls behind by five points or more after at least three ends, if you do not change jack length, mat position, or both, when you get mat possession, you are not doing everything possible to win your match, and you deserve to lose!

Do you think this is obvious? But I see it all the time with teams of club bowlers and in inter-club matches. Players know they can change the mat position. They know they should carefully deliver the jack to a preferred length. But they doggedly keep sending medium-length jacks from the two-meter mark until the almost inevitable loss is consummated!

The Case For Dead or 'Burnt' Ends at Lawn Bowls

Before the advent of televised lawn bowls, the rules allowed for what were called ‘dead’ ends. If at any point during the delivery phase of the end, the jack was knocked out of bounds, then play stopped, all the bowls and the jack were taken back, and the end replayed from the beginning. Whichever side possessed the mat in the dead end, retained the mat.

Such was the accuracy of the world’s best bowlers that this made matches among them of completely unpredictable duration. Many ends were ‘burnt’ and had to be replayed and towards the finish of a match an end might be ‘killed’ over and over.  This was called burning or killing the end and it made televising lawn bowls impossible because producers could not even approximately predict what time allotment they should schedule for a match.

Because elite lawn bowlers wanted their matches popularized by television, lawn bowling authorities changed the rules, for the most part eliminating dead ends. Henceforth, if a jack was driven out of bounds rules required that it be replaced at a designated spot on the rink and play was continued.

Because amateur sports enthusiasts generally try to play the same way as the best in their sport, clubs started adopting this same ‘no dead end’ practice even though the necessity of meeting the demands of television did not apply for them. 

I will argue here that this rule change has had some negative and unintended consequences and that burning or killing an end should be restored to the game whenever mass broadcasting is not an issue. In the case of tournament play, where games cannot be unduly prolonged for the sake of overall tournament scheduling, each team should be entitled to a small fixed number of burnt ends per match. I propose that two burnt ends be allowed per team/per match.

Why should we go back to allowing dead ends at all?

First: Allowing burnt ends permits a tactic that enables competitors who are on the verge of losing a match to preserve a chance to recover. No team will have realistically lost until its last bowl has been delivered because with that last bowl the end could be burnt and the entire end replayed. This increases the suspense in the lawn bowling sport and enables more games to be close games.

Second: The best defences against opponents burning an end thereby preserving their chances to come back and win are:

• delivering long jacks from a mat at the back T ( harder to be accurate over a longer distance ) and
• delivering short jacks that get spotted on the forward T ( the jack is more likely to be knocked into the forward ditch than go out the side of the rink )

These defences require that leads be able to deliver the jack an accurate length without ditching the jack. This means more skill is required to bowl well. The game becomes more challenging- more fun.

 Third: Returning the most aggressive shot in lawn bowls to the game instantly makes it more attractive to younger more athletic players. Aren’t these the very people we have been wishing would be more attracted to our game? 

Why Top Bowlers Tuck in One Knee During their Delivery?

 

For the past dozen years, when I looked at pictures of the top professional lawn bowlers delivering lawn bowls, I was mystified as to why they tucked the knee of their anchor leg (the one that stayed at the mat) behind the knee of their stepping leg (the leg that moves forward as they deliver a bowl). Then one day recently, while I was practising my delivery motion (without a bowl!!) in the hall of my condominium in Portugal, I found myself doing it.

Why was I now doing this? Let’s see whether you would also. 

Stand with one foot on an imaginary mat, with that foot at 45 degrees to the proposed line of delivery (as in the shooter’s stance). The line of delivery should run about 5 inches from the toe of your anchor foot.

The heel of your stepping foot should be level with the toes of your anchor foot, but about a foot away from the aim line. Your weight is essentially completely on your anchor foot. The stepping foot is only touching the ground for balance. The toe of your stepping foot should be pointing towards a spot on your aim line about 3 to 5 meters in front of you.

Rest your non-bowling hand gently on the thigh of your stepping leg.

Now slowly pull your bowling arm back along the aim line like it is a pendulum holding an imaginary bowl, and then step forward a foot towards that stare point on the aim line. Now, let your arm containing the imaginary bowl hang down beside the advanced stepping foot. When I do this, my hand is still a couple of inches above the ground. 

Now I lower my body to bring my hand to the ground. How do I do this lowering?  To my amazement, I do it automatically by tucking the knee of my anchor leg in behind the knee and ankle of my stepping leg. 

Why had I not recognised this before? The answer— because I was not lowering my body enough— I was dumping my bowl these last centimetres onto the green. Most top bowls delivered their bowls right onto the ground and they achieve this by tucking in that knee!!

Playing 4-3-2-1 to Win

 

The lawn bowling clubs I belong to in Canada have special events called Pizza & Play where the bowling is exclusively the 4-3-2-1 variety. I rarely participate. I find it too simple tactically. However, if one decides to play one needs to understand that the strategy for winning is different.

In regular lawn bowls a person or a team must have the single best bowl ( called ‘shot’ ) in each end to score any points at all. As a consequence, obtaining the shot bowl is absolutely essential. It is the only priority. Playing 4-3-2-1, one is awarded 4 points for that best bowl but also 3 points for second best, 2 points for third best, and 1 point for fourth best. In other words one can score (3+2+1= 6 points) even when you do not deliver the traditional shot bowl.

Because scoring the shot bowl is so essential to the regular lawn bowls games, particular bowl placements are designed to protect a shot bowl (blockers, catchers, back bowls) and other deliveries are designed to disrupt  the nearest bowl placement (overweight shots, drives). 

Playing 4-3-2-1 is essentially a game whose outcome depends on the precision of one’s draw shot. Every delivery has a single goal, getting close to the jack. There is no necessary need to have the closest bowl; the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th closest can accumulate enough points for you to win. There is no need to defend the show bowl or attack a shot bowl. There is no need to worry about displacing your own shot bowl. Just keep smoothly drawing to the jack- delivery after delivery.

Enjoy any pizza. Enjoy the socializing. But don’t confuse it with practice.