A situation which arose on a league game last Saturday prompts me to ask how a decision is made on which bowl is a toucher.
If after the jack has been displaced and two or more woods are displaced into the ditch a dispute can arise between the two teams as to which of the woods was actually the toucher and which had become a dead wood.
If the two sides cannot agree on which is the toucher the Laws of the Sport of Bowls says the umpire shall be consulted to make the decision.
If there is no umpire present, how is the matter decided?
Is it declared a dead end and the end is replayed?
How do you consider the score for that end is decided?
Which players do you consider are responsible for deciding which is the toucher? Is it only the bowlers standing at the head or should also include the bowlers at the mat end of the green when the jack was displaced, that are responsible for deciding which is the toucher.?
Reply from Claudius Lam, VP-Technical from HKLBA
Thanks for your enquiry and here is the answer for your queries.
If there is no umpire present, how is the matter decided? Unfortunately there is no law to govern this situation and I checked with World Bowls and they said there were a similar case in the National Final in Scotland and the ruling is “if both side cannot agree, the end should be declared dead and replay.” I guess this should apply to this case.
Is it declared a dead end and the end is replayed? See above.
How do you consider the score for that end is decided? If it is a dead end, no score will be record for this end.
Which players do you consider are responsible for deciding which is the toucher? The players at the head. It will be difficult, if not impossible, for the players at the mat-end to spot which one is the toucher.
Is it only the bowlers standing at the head or should it be the bowlers at the mat end of the green when the jack was displaced? Same as above.
Bowls Scotland also has a similar case in a National Final and the decision is dead end. The World Bowls site has a lot of similar cases for reference: http://www.worldbowls.com/laws-umpiring/wb-law-decisions/
Hope this answered your questions.
Claudius Lam