My partner and I were 7 down after 15 ends. We gained 5 on 16th end.  Much measuring.  Bell rings - jack not centred - end of match amid much frustration for losing pair.  'So what'  you may say - 'rules are rules'.  Well maybe but from a calmer perspective now that I am back in England for the summer I suggest some points of general interest arise :-

a)  Why have a time limit?  OK the answer seems obvious.  But it is arbitrary, open to abuse and makes no allowance for exceptional circumstances.  In other sports/pastimes, e.g.  golf, bridge, warnings are given to slow players.  In bowls it is surely not difficult for the umpire/organiser to monitor the rinks in play and to warn any group falling behind. This would also be an opportunity for any player(s) adversly affected by the slow play of others to make their point.

b) If there must be a time limit, why not have a warning bell 15 minutes before the end and a final bell at the end at which time any rink in play would be allowed to finish - a few minutes either way would rarely be critical.

c)If there must be only one bell, it would avoid any confusion if it were stated at the outset that it would be rung at a specific time (e.g. at 4.45 pm rather than after two hours or whatever).  In the instance above it was certainly rung earlier than I would have expected based on our starting time.

d)  What is to prevent deliberate slow play by those who would thereby gain an advantage - see also a) above ( a hypothetical question - I am not suggesting that this happened in the instance above).

 

I should welcome any comments.