17 Dead bowl
17.1 A bowl is a dead bowl if:
17.1.1 it is not a toucher and comes to rest in the ditch;
17.1.2 it is not a toucher and rebounds onto the rink after contact with the face of the bank or with the jack or a toucher in the ditch;
17.1.3 after completing its original course or after being moved as a result of play, it comes to rest at a distance of less than 14 metres, as measured in a straight line, from the centre of the mat line to the nearest point of the bowl;
17.1.4 it passes completely outside the boundaries of the rink of play after being moved as a result of play;
17.1.5 in its original course, it passes outside a side boundary of the rink on a bias which would prevent it from re-entering the rink of play; or
17.1.6 in its original course, it comes to rest outside a side boundary of the rink even though it may have come to rest in contact with the outside edge of a line jack.
17.2 A bowl is not a dead bowl if:
17.2.1 it is carried by a player while inspecting the head;
17.2.2 in its original course, it comes to rest within the boundaries of the rink even though it may have passed outside a side boundary of the rink during its course;
17.2.3 it is a toucher which rebounds from the face of the bank onto the rink of play; or
17.2.4 it is a toucher which comes to rest on top of the jack or another toucher at rest in the ditch.
17.3 The skips or opponents in Singles must decide whether a bowl is dead or not as soon as they realise it is necessary. (If the players do not realise that a decision is necessary as soon as the bowl comes to rest, the decision can still be made even if a number of bowls have been played after the bowl in question came to rest.) If they cannot reach agreement, they must ask the umpire to make a decision.
17.4 A dead bowl must be removed from the rink of play as soon as it has been declared dead.
A great example of this law:
The photo above caused considerable debate on Facebook (Lawn Bowlers Australia Group), with many people incorrectly stating that the orange bowl was a dead bowl.
This is in fact not correct, the orange bowl is live.
When deciding whether such a bowl should be declared as “live” or “dead” the following Laws of the Sport of Bowls come into consideration.
C.27 Rink and its boundaries
C.27.1 Rink: the section of the green on which a game is played.
C.27.2 Rink of play: the section of the green and the corresponding sections of the end ditches on which a game is played.
16.1 The position of a toucher in the ditch will be validly altered if the toucher is moved by:
16.1.3 a non-toucher while it is partly on the rink and partly overhanging the ditch, as long as part of the non-toucher is still on the rink when it comes to rest after it has moved the toucher.
17.1 A bowl is a dead bowl if it is not a toucher and comes to rest in the ditch; Law 17.1.1.
The first thing to note is the definition of Rink (Law C27.1) and Rink of Play (Law C27.2). The Laws here define that the rink is the section of green on which a game is played and extend that area for the Rink of Play to include the section of the end ditches.
When taking these definitions into account a bowl that has come to rest partly on the green and overhanging the ditch is within the rink. This is consistent with Law 17.1.6 under which a bowl must come to rest completely outside the side boundaries of the rink to be to be out of bounds.
Therefore, a non-toucher that comes to rest partly on the green and leaning against the jack and or toucher(s) that are in the ditch remains a live bowl.
This position is also supported by Law 16.1.3, whereby the position of a toucher in the ditch will be validly altered if the toucher is moved by a non-toucher while it is partly on the rink and partly overhanging the ditch, as long as part of the non-toucher is still on the rink when it comes to rest after it has moved the toucher.
The Laws Committee (of World Bowls) supports that the orange bowl is live with the statement: “The Committee has also considered law 17.2.2, which also refers to a bowl coming to rest “within the boundaries of the rink” as not being a dead bowl. Further, law 16.1.3 allows for a non-toucher to come to rest in contact with live bowls and the jack in the ditch, as long a part of that non-toucher remains in contact with the rink.”
The orange bowl in the picture at the top of this article, according to The Laws of the Sport is LIVE.
