Trial Ends

Trial Ends

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• Almost everyone wastes trial ends by just trying to draw close to wherever the jack happens to be.  It’s often a contest to try and psyche out your opponent.  But what can we get out of trial ends?  Three things:

1.  Each team mate’s natural length

2.  A read of the pace of the green

3.  A read of the lines of the green

• Now, how are we going to do that?  Each team member can throw their bowls to reach the centre line, letting them go ‘naturally’ to find out if they are most comfortable playing short, medium or long.  But we can do a bit better than that.  After all, not every bowl is going to be played to the centre line.  Here’s what we’re going to do

• NEVER draw the jack – trials would be easier without the jack

• Watch your opponents’ bowls and learn from them

• Wherever the jack and mat are, always try a few to the ditch to see how the bowls behave; typically greens are faster and draw more close to the ditch, because everyone has been standing on that part of the rink all day.

• Try other lines than just finishing at the centre line; what happens when you’re wide, narrow?

  • Lead: draw to centre both hands for natural weight

  • Vice: draw one to natural length, draw wider (or narrower)

  • Skip: draw the ditch along various lines

• If you feel confident, don’t even bother to draw the centre line, just watch your opponents’ bowls to see the centre-line draw; then you have more bowls to learn more about the greens