Team Positions – Skip

To conclude our round up of short mat bowls playing positions, we move onto the position of skip.

As the skip is the last player to bowl in any team, there is generally already a lot of bowls littered about the end and this can make it a lot more difficult to draw a scoring wood. Therefore, out of all the positions skip is arguably the one which is the most challenging or at least the one with the most responsibility.

A skip is the player that really proves their worth when their team is down in an end. In these instances, they will generally be required to play with a more attacking style than those players who have gone before and, because of this, they should ideally have good ability playing with weight.

However, it’s not simply about launching your bowls down the mat in an attempt to obliterate your opponents’ bowls from the end, as you obviously have to allow for the wooden block in the centre. Therefore, the ability to play with controlled weight is imperative so that the bias of the bowl can still do it’s job; allowing you to peg around the block and into the head.

If your team is already counting shot then the role of skip is similar to the other playing positions, whereby you should aim to protect those bowls already counting shot or look for opportunities to add more to your score.

Occasionally, an end can be played out where your opponents have the shot bowl and it is extremely difficult to produce either a scoring wood or play an attacking shot that is without any great risk. In these instances, a skip might choose to play a “damage limitation” bowl, where they aim to deliver a wood within the head to try and reduce their opponents’ shot count. Although, I have to say it’s not too often that you see this kind of play as most skips I know will always give themselves a chance to save the day with a dream bowl!

So that just about covers all the playing positions involved in games of short mat bowls. Hopefully, you'll now have a good idea about the roles and responsibilities (and maybe personality traits!) that tend to be associated with each member of a short mat bowls team.

Team Positions – Second and Third

The responsibilities of the second and third positions in a short mat bowls game are essentially the same, so the strategies of both are covered in this next post in this series of short mat bowls playing positions. 

The second and third positions are effectively there to support the lead. If the lead has managed to achieve the shot bowl, then it’s down to you to either protect the end with a blocker or if there’s no danger, attempt to add to the score with your own woods. 

Depending on how the end is panning out, a second or third might also decide to place a bowl behind the head, to counter any possibility of your opponents hitting the jack and “springing” it towards the back of the rink. Should they decide to do this and are successful, then you stand a chance of still counting shot with a strategically placed bowl ready to “receive” the sprung jack. Be sure to say thank you to your opponents in these instances!

If, however when you step up to the delivery mat you find that your lead has let you down  and your team doesn’t have the shot bowl, then it’s down to you to either rescue the end or at least give your skip a chance to rescue it.

Similar to the lead bowler’s strategy in this scenario, you shouldn’t be overly aggressive with any bowl where there is a risk of leaving the end wide open. If the lead hasn’t managed to place a bowl within the frame, then it’s usually best to make sure that you do get one there. By playing too adventurous a bowl, you can run the risk of failing in your attempt to be a hero and can give your skip an impossible task of salvaging anything from the end at all.

However, if your lead has managed to get at least one bowl in the head, then you might have a bit more licence to be adventurous and go for glory! You just need to weigh up the odds and make a decision. As someone once said “it’s all about playing percentages!”

Overall, if your team is counting shot, aim to either add extra woods into the scoring frame or protect what you’ve got. If your opponents have shot then you should attempt to beat their bowl or at least give your skip a chance of rescuing the end.

Team Positions – Lead

Keeping things in a sensible logical order, the first post in this series of short mat bowls playing positions covers the responsibilities of the lead bowler. 

As a team, the ideal end is for you to achieve the shot wood as early as you can and then look to protect that counting bowl; and even add to the shot count if possible.

So as obvious as this sounds, the number one aim of any lead bowler is to get a bowl counting shot, as close to the jack as possible…as early as possible. If you can get both or all of your bowls counting shot then even better.

Taking this a step further, it’s widely considered that the best result for a lead bowler is to have one bowl positioned directly in front of the jack and one behind (touching the jack if you’re really good!); as not only does this mean you’re counting two, but also that the jack is fairly well protected.

Leaving your woods on the side of the jack is not so good as it makes a bigger target and sometimes provides an opportunity for an opponent to gain a wick (deflection) off of a side bowl, diverting their wood towards the jack. Placing one in front and one behind means that the head is narrower and therefore harder for your opponents to hit.

If however, your opposing lead happens to place a bowl close to the jack before you or even beats your bowl to be counting shot, it’s not always a good idea to play an attacking bowl to gain the shot wood with either of your remaining bowls. The reason for this is if you play with any weight and your bowl misses the end, then there’s a good chance of you leaving it open and therefore vulnerable for your opponents to add more scoring woods.

Instead, a better strategy is to still try and beat your opponent’s bowl or at least get as close as you can to the head, but with a measured shot, that reduces the risk of leaving your bowls completely out of the frame should you fail in your attempt.

By ensuring that you have at least one bowl there or thereabouts means that your team mates who will be bowling after you can take one or two risks and also have a better chance of rescuing the end; either by taking out your opponents’ bowls or by connecting with the jack and diverting it to one of yours.

Overall as lead bowler, your mantra should be along the lines of “if I can’t achieve the shot bowl then I should at least get one in the frame to give my team mates something to work with.”

Short Mat Bowls Team Positions

If you’re playing a game of short mat bowls as a doubles, triples or even a team of four, then there’s a fair amount of strategy and varying responsibilities that go with each position. 

A singles game is a little different as there aren’t as many bowls involved in a match and the responsibility of finishing the end with your bowls closest to the jack is entirely on your shoulders!

Playing short mat bowls as a team however, means that you need to consider the other bowlers playing on your side to a greater extent; and this sometimes means playing a more strategic bowl that is more about manipulating the end for your team mates to take advantage of as opposed to going all gung ho and trying to be the hero all the time!

As a general guide for bowls players everywhere, the next few posts on shortmatbowls.net will be dedicated to the different playing positions that feature in the game. I’ll be covering the main strategies and responsibilities that are associated with each position; so hopefully there’ll be at least one or two titbits of information that will help your transition from maverick bowler to all round team player.