The art of being a great bowler

Had the great honour of marking the four bowls semifinal match for my mate this evening. He joined the club a bit before me and is at about the same stage in his bowling journey.

The honour came from who he was playing. The best bowler in the club by far. Not only is his opponent likely to be in every singles final on Finals Day, but the list of County titles is far too long to detail here. Let's just say he was up against a seriously good bowler.

Interested to see what sets his opponent apart from the ordinary mortal. In the first six ends nothing much. Really tight, with only a single bowl between them on each end and all square at 3-3. Then consistency came into play. My friend didn't quite get any of his bowls near to the jack and his opponent scored three. After a couple of ends of again exchanging single bowls it was another two lost. Then three.

The champ bowled short bowls. He bowled some long shots too. What he never failed to do was get at least one bowl near the jack. Every end. So even if my friend bowled several corkers, he'd be lucky to score more than one. But when a bit all over the place, rest assured he'd find himself losing two or three, even four on one end. Ended up being beaten by some margin.

It's something I've been thinking about for a while. Seems the art of being a great bowler is not to get every single bowl against the jack. It is to always get just one of your bowls near the jack. Nothing more, nothing less. Sound simple, doesn't it? So why can't I do it?????