Show me the numbers

Anyone who knows me from my working life will know I'm obsessed with numbers. Ask me to work out when a million calls will be delivered to a call centre, how many people that'll need to reach service levels, and when those people should be employed and I'm happy as a pig in muck. So no surprise I've got some numbers relating to my bowling.

Seems pretty important to me to have some numbers. How else can I tell if I'm improving, and more importantly where I need to focus attention? With competition matches and roll up sessions it's hardly de rigueur to jot down a few numbers during play, and each competition has different rules. In club league games you only get a couple of bowls, and with so many other bowls being delivered mine are unlikely to stay where they originally rested.

So the figures I get from solo practise seem invaluable. With no outside influences and consistency of measurement, the four  sessions I've had so far tell me the following...

The above pie charts show I've made an improvement in the bowls I get within one metre of the jack (green segments). Having averaged about 1 in 4, at the last practise session this was over 1 in 3.

More importantly, I've dramatically reduced the number of short bowls (red segments). At worst I was delivering over half my bowls short. It's now getting down to 1 in 4. Still way too high though, at an average of one every end.

The words of my brother ring in my ear... 'always get at least one bowl near the jack'. To make sure, I'm measuring what percentage of the eighteen ends have two or more bowls within one metre of the jack. From the above chart you can see I've more than doubled this, but it's still way off where I need to be. In effect, more than half of the ends I play will give my opponent a chance to score three or four. Not good!

Finally, which is my most productive end length? When I started bowling I thought a long end was my best option. This was certainly disproved when I started measuring it, with fifteen more bowls being short than near the jack. Things have levelled out a bit since, but it's certain a medium length end is my best bet.

I'm going to end there 'cause I've got a headache!