The laws of the sport of bowls – a refresher – delivering the jack
Umpire with Joan Brotherton
During some of the events I have attended in the past months, I noticed some of the following laws were not being observed and I would like to remind members that it is important that we all play by the laws of the sport of bowls.
Law 9: Delivering the Jack
Pages 24,25 26
9.2 If the jack in the original course comes to rest less than 2 metres from the front ditch, it must be placed on the centre line of the rink with the NEAREST POINT OF THE JACK TO THE MAT LINE BEING 2 METRES FROM THE FRONT DITCH.
There is at times, confusion over where the jack should be placed when it comes to rest between the 2 metre mark and the front ditch. This is illustrated on Page 104 – B.3 – Centering the jack.
10.3 If the jack is improperly delivered once by each player in any end, it must not be delivered again in that end. Instead, it must be centred with the NEAREST POINT OF THE JACK TO THE MAT LINE BEING 2 METRES FROM THE FRONT DITCH and the mat must be placed as described in Law 6.1.1 by the first player to play.
19.4 If the jack is dead, the end is a dead end and Law 20 will apply. HOWEVER, CONTROLLING BODIES CAN DECIDE NOT TO HAVE THE END DECLARED DEAD, INSTEAD THEY CAN DECIDE TO HAVE THE JACK RE-SPOTTED IN LINE WITH LAW 56.5 – RE- SPOTTING THE JACK – Pages 89, 90, 91.
