Make your mark! Weekly news, 7th May

Kim Wright
6 hours ago
6 min read

As our internal competitions get going, singles bowlers will need someone to mark their matches. This week's coaching special edition is on marking.

Coach's corner

Allan gives us a comprehensive expanation of what a marker should do, whilst Wendy was recently a marker at a tournament for blind bowlers, and she gives us an account of the intricacies of marking/guiding the blind player. Both Wendy and Allan have both taken the markers' course, so are happy to answer any queries you may have.

Marking a match, by Allan

This week it's the duties of a marker.

Section 3-2; Officials and their duties :-

The first six laws cover matches with an umpire. I don't consider it relevant as we are dealing at club level, we will assume that we are dealing with internal competitions.

At the start of each end:

Check that the mat is on the centre line of the rink and centre the jack.
Make sure that the jack is at least 23m from the front of the mat once the jack has been centred.
Place the jack if it comes to rest less than 2m from the front ditch.

Now some practical advice;

Stand to one side of the rink, behind the jack and away from the head but close enough to quickly mark a toucher as not to hold up play.
Answer any question about the state of the head that is asked by the player who is in possession of the rink. A player in possession of the rink is when he is standing on the mat ready to bowl. Possession of the rink is relinquished when a player has bowed his bowl and moved off the mat.
When asked show or tell the player in possession of the position of the jack the marker, you may anticipate his next question by telling him how many shots he holds or how far his bowl is from the jack.
Answer all questions asked by the player on the mat. When anticipating a question, do not say anything that is to the advantage of one player or to the detriment to the other
Mark all touchers, and rub off all old chalk marks from any bowl when it comes to a stop

Mark on the bank when the jack and bowl that is a toucher are in the ditch. The jack is marked with a white indicator; the bowl is marked with a coloured indicator usually red (ours are black, as in the picture).
Remove all dead bowls from the rink only with the player's permission.
Do not remove the jack or any bowl from the rink until the players have agreed the number of shots scored.
Measure all disputed shots when asked to do so.
When each end is completed the marker must ;-

A. Record the score on the score card.

B. If score boards are being used, record the running total.

C. Remove the unused mat from the rink.

When the match is finished the score card must be signed by both players.

I hope you have found this helpful. I will buy a pint or a wine for the first person who tells me the answer to this question;

What are the circumstances when you can mark a bowl as a toucher

when it has not touched the Jack ?

Allan Shattock

Marking for Visually Impaired Bowling (VIB) matches, by Wendy

I expect many of you have seen adverts for the VIP tournament which takes place at Clarence Bowls Club each May. This attracts bowlers from all over the country and several of our members have responded to a request for markers in previous years.

Having recently done a markers' course with EUBA (English Bowls Umpires Association) I thought I would have a go, and attended a short training session to show us how it all works.

The level of sight impairment varies. There is a category for totally blind bowlers, who are aided by a personal helper. The remainder take part in an open category - some with helpers and some independently - and the standard of play is amazing!

The mat is always placed 6ft from the ditch. There is a string running down the rink to mark the centre line, with pins marking the 25yd and 30yd positions and the maximum length of 34yds. Most bowlers can only see the nearest part of the string.

As a marker you have to firstly identify how long the jack is, then describe the position of each bowl relative to the jack as it's played. It's based on a clock face with the 12 behind the jack (from the bowler's end), so it is upside down to the marker.

For instance, if the bowl goes past the jack and finishes slightly to the bowler's right of the string, then it might be '4ft at 12.30'... and so on. The bowlers somehow manage to build up a picture of the head from this, although if they have a helper then they are able to advise as well.

Simple enough?

It's not too bad once you get used to the upside down clock. That is until one of the bowlers moves the jack. You then have to describe where the jack has come to rest, eg. 'now at 29yds, 2ft from the centre line at 9.30', plus where their bowl is relative to the new jack position, the position of any other bowls that have been moved, and who is now holding shot. And all at the top of your voice! I did find myself automatically reverting to hand signals once or twice as I would normally do if I can't be heard, before realising that it wouldn't help! I was a bit hoarse after 2 matches.

It was a really interesting experience. There is a great camaraderie amongst the bowlers and helpers, as they obviously know each other from meeting up at other tournaments and it's a lovely atmosphere. If I go again next year I will definitely have to learn to shout louder though!

In other news....

Handicap competition - new scoring arrangements

As you may know, the scoring arrangements for the handicap competition have been changed slightly this year. Previously the lower handicap player had to reach 21 shots to win and the higher handicap player had to reach 21 plus the difference in handicaps.

This year, the lower handicap player will have the difference in the handicaps added to their score at the start of the match and each player will have to reach 21 shots to win. So, if player A has a handicap of 2 and player B has a handicap of 6, then player A will start the competition on +4 and scoring will then continue as normal.

The scoreboard should show +4 for the lower handicap player before the match starts and the scorecard should be annotated as shown.

If you have any questions please ask me.

Wendy Coleman

Pulled Pork BBQ, 30th May

As you know, our next event is Triples Day (which is now fully subscribed) with a pulled pork BBQ afterwards for players and social members alike.

Click here to see details and RSVP, or scroll along to the events tab on the Spaces app. We need to know numbers, so don't forget to use the RSVP to let us know you are coming, or tick the list in the clubhouse.

This week's match report

North 2B team, at home to Nailsea 09/05/26

First of all, we started the fixture in brilliant sunshine which lasted the whole game. Just how bowls should be played.

There was complete contrast on all rinks during the early part of the match; after 6 ends the scores were level with rink 2 losing 11-1, rink 3 at 6-6 and rink 5 winning 10-0.

After end 6, not much changed on rink 2 with Banwell scoring 8 shots to Nailsea 7, final score 18-9 to Nailsea. On rink 5, Nailsea got to grips with the rink, finishing 16-15 to Banwell.

However rink 3 came on strong and picked up 12 shots to 4 in the remaining ends, leaving Nailsea with a winning rink of 18-10.

Banwell won the match. The final score was 43-43, with Banwell winning on 2 rinks to Nailsea 1 rink.

Total points 7 Banwell, 5 Nailsea.

Mal Laycock

Captain of the Day

Umbrella, 11/05/2026

Monday this week saw the first night of our Umbrella competition. We played rinks, with everyone getting quite quickly into the swing of things. One of new members, Mark, played well in his first match.

The weather held out, and after 15 ends, the match finished 9-17 on each rink!

The scene is set for a fun and competitive series of matches. We look forward to some more of our new players joining in next week.

Kim Wright