This volume of Ask an Umpire covers Bowl & Jack Displacement and Duties of Players & Officials
Bowl & Jack Displacement
Q: Player A played first in one end of a Singles game. During the end Player A threw a runner, which entered the adjacent rink and struck several bowls before anyone could do anything about it. In response, the marker returned Player A’s bowl, but allowed Player B to play next, which resulted in Player A bowling the last bowl of the end, which should not have happened. So not only did Player A get to replay her shot, they got to play the final bowl of the end. What should have happened to Player A?
A: The answer provided is based on two assumptions – that the delivered bowl did not hit any bowls on the rink of play before it entered the adjacent rink, and that no bowls on the rink of play were disturbed after the runner hit the bowls on the adjacent rink.
Law 37.3.1.3 states that if a bowl is running on a bias that would have brought it back into the rink of play, and it hits a bowl on the adjacent rink (this is a neutral object), the bowl should be replayed. Law 17.1.5 states that a bowl in its original course is dead if it passes outside a rink boundary on the wrong bias. If the runner was played on the correct bias, the marker was correct in allowing the bowl to be replayed. After Player A’s bowl was returned, Player A should have replayed their bowl immediately.
Law 29.1 refers to playing out of turn. If Player B’s bowl was delivered and it did not disturb the head, Player A could have chosen to either return Player B’s bowl, and play in the correct order, or leave it in the head and play 2 consecutive bowls. If Player B’s bowl did disturb the head, Player A would have had 3 options: leave the head as it was and play 2 bowls; replace the head to its former position and return the bowl in order to get back to the proper order of play; or declare the end dead.
Duties of players & officials
Q: As the skips may delegate the responsibility of maintaining the score card, does that mean that the player in charge of the score card is also responsible for maintaining the scoreboard at the end of the rink?
A: Responsibility for the score card is one of the skip’s duties, as defined in law 40.1.7. In Canada, this responsibility may be transferred to another player on the team if both skips agree to do so, and if both players are in the same position.
In Canada, the scoreboard is not an official record of the score, so there are no regulations regarding who updates the scoreboard. Typically, a member of the team that lost the previous end will update the scoreboard, while the other team is delivering the jack and the first bowl. When the skips are at the score board end, one of the skips will do it. Otherwise, another team member will do so. If there is any disagreement with the score, the score cards are the official record, and it is up to the score card keepers to agree on the score.
From past editions of Extra Ends, as well as questions bowlers had for umpires that have never been published. All questions were answered by the National Officiating Committee
