New Laws – “Starting an End” – what are the repercussions

The World Indoor Bowls Council has decided to scrap the rule of giving the jack away after you have won an end. This rule will be revoked for the coming indoor season and is thought to be rolling over to the 2011 outdoor season of World Bowls.

What does the rule mean?

At the moment, having won an end, you have the option of keeping the mat and casting the jack, or giving it away to the opposition and having the last bowl of the following end for yourself. (Notice I said ‘cast the jack’ – where did this awful expression ‘throw the jack’ come from?)

What were the repercussions?

When this new rule was first introduced several years ago it was deemed radical and many older players found this to be a very intimidating way to play bowls, and, as the rule was usually implemented by the ‘youngsters’, I will go so far as to say that it may have been this rule that branded the youngsters as arrogant in some cases. There were no end of witterings in the early days and I recall an incident on the green not long ago that I found abhorrent. I was playing with my mother in a club social game, so this was not serious competition, just social bowling. Having lost an end the jack was given to her by the opposition. My mother asked if this was the norm in such a minor situation and was told that ‘she needed the practice’. The person concerned in this incident had only been bowling for 2 seasons against my mothers 35 season bowling career. It’s small wonder that this rule is unpopular with the older generation.
More coaching would be the answer to that one.

The Argument

There is an argument to could be tabled, that if you have won an end you deserve to make the decision about the following end, and that the better player should be rewarded for winning this end. What piffle this is. Any bowler worth their salt will tell you that a drawing bowler will win 99% of the time, so to be drawing and playing well and have someone’s last, straight bowl come howling up the green and destroy all your hard work, just because they couldn’t draw a wood (even if you gave them pen and paper) is somewhat depressing. What’s more they can do this to you every end. Does that seem fair to you? No of course it’s not. As the better bowler, by drawing ability, which, let me add is the corner-stone of this great game, you are being beaten by someone with no skill except to heave a straight bowl up the green to scatter the head. That’s not skill, its hardly clever either, it’s more luck.
Again coaching would be the answer to this one.

On the other hand, I can only recall a game that I played last season when some wag, after taking 2 shots from me on the first end, mistakenly said ‘you can have the jack’. Every end after that I changed the length of the jack from short to long alternately, never dropped another shot, kept the jack, and won the game in the next 10 ends.

I am a firm believer that if you are casting the jack you have a good idea of the changing pace of the green. Giving the jack away does not always pay, as illustrated by the game outlined above.

Someone mentioned that we all love the underdog to win. Again this is nonsense. We all love to watch a skilled bowler in action, and even our top International bowlers will not fire unless they are in a desperate situation. Yes, sometimes the underdog wins, but it is playing against better bowlers than ourselves that gives us the experience and teaches us the lessons. The rules, whatever they may be, are there for everyone, not just the best players or the most aggressive players. It’s supposed to be an even playing field.

Giving the jack and mat away has always been confusing to the spectators, as they cannot distinguish between the person winning the end and the person casting the jack. However, when were rules ever made for the convenience of the spectator? So reverting to the old rule could make bowls a better spectator sport once again.

I feel sorry for Umpires and Markers as there are several other rules that are to be revised, and just coming on to the Umpiring scene I realise just what a minefield it can all be.

Watch this space for any updates to rules and regulations.

That’s all folks

Terri
Going greyer by the moment.