Marker's Guide to Bowls Australia Singles Play 2026/27

• Players and bowls: a Singles game is played between two opposing players, who play singly and in turn either two, three or four bowls of a set, as decided by the Controlling Body (law 1.1).
• Toss: the opponents toss a coin. The winner chooses either to place the mat and deliver the jack and first bowl, or to tell the opponent to do so (the opponent cannot refuse) (law 5.2).
• Later ends: after the first end, the winner of the previous scoring end places the mat and delivers the jack and first bowl. After a tied end the same rule applies, and if the first end is tied the same player plays first in the second end (laws 5.4, 24.3 and 24.4).
• Result: victory goes to the player with the highest total of shots, ends won or sets, or a combination, as set out in the Conditions of Play (law 26.1).
• Drawn knockout game: if the scores are equal after a fixed number of ends in a knockout competition, an extra end is played. The opponents toss a coin, the winner decides who plays first, and further extra ends are played if scores are still equal (law 28).

If there is no umpire, you must make sure before the game starts that (law 42.1):

• all bowls have a clearly visible, valid World Bowls Stamp imprinted on them;
• the rink is the correct width, by measuring it (between 4.3 and 5.8 metres for outdoor play, and between 4.6 and 5.8 metres for indoor play, law 49.1); and
• the pegs, discs or other markers on the side banks are at the correct distances (2 metres and 25 metres from the end ditches, law 49.12), by measuring them.

Trial ends. Before the start of play one trial end must be played in each direction, on the rink the game will be played on, although for domestic play the Controlling Body can limit this to none or one trial end in one direction. As each bowl comes to rest in a trial end, a player or the marker can remove it and place it towards the front ditch (law 5.1.8).

Bowls Australia's marker pre-game role is to prepare for the game and gather the required equipment.

Source: https://bowls.com.au/get-involved/officiating-laws/marker/

The player to play first places the mat and delivers the jack. You must (law 42.2):

1. Check the mat is placed on the centre line of the rink. The mat line must be at least 2 metres from the rear ditch and at least 25 metres from the front ditch (law 6.1.1). The mat is 600 mm long and 360 mm wide (law 50).
2. Centre the jack.
3. Check the jack is at least 23 metres from the mat line after it has been centred.
4. Place a jack that rests less than 2 metres from the front ditch on the centre line with its nearest point to the mat line 2 metres from the front ditch, either at a mark on the centre line or alongside a 2-metre measuring device such as a batten (law 9.2).

A jack is improperly delivered if it rests in the ditch, completely outside the rink, less than 23 metres from the mat line after centring, or on the rink after hitting the face of the bank. The opponent then places the mat and re-delivers the jack, but does not play first (law 10).

For domestic play a Member National Authority can change the 23 metre jack distance to 21 metres, and the 25 metre mat distance to 23 metres (law 10.5).

You must stand to one side of the rink, behind the jack and away from the head (law 42.2.5).

The player in possession of the rink can ask you questions. You must:

• answer any specific question they ask about the state of the head (law 42.2.6);
• when asked, tell or show them the position of the jack (law 42.2.7); and
• when asked, tell or show them which bowl or bowls you consider to be shot (law 42.2.8).

When the Controlling Body authorises it, you also signal to players and spectators which player's bowl or bowls you consider to be shot, using the appropriate number and colour of shot indicators (also known as lollipops or paddles) or another suitable method (law 42.2.9 and definition C.30).

A bowl in its original course that touches the jack is a toucher, even if it comes to rest in the ditch within the rink boundaries (law 14.1).

• On the green: you must mark all touchers with chalk, and remove chalk marks from non-touchers, as soon as they come to rest (law 42.2.10). A toucher can also be marked by a member of the team that delivered it (law 15.1).
• When marking would move the bowl: if the marker, or either player, thinks marking would likely move the bowl or alter the head, the bowl is not marked but nominated as a toucher instead (law 15.2). The same applies to removing a wrong mark: the bowl is nominated as a non-toucher (law 15.6).
• Time limit: if a bowl is neither marked nor nominated before the next bowl comes to rest (or, for the last bowl of an end, before the 30-second period under law 23.1), it is no longer a toucher (law 15.3).
• In the ditch: you must mark the position of a toucher, and of a live jack, with a brightly coloured indicator (white for the jack) not more than 50 mm wide and 100 mm high, placed vertically against the face of the bank or on top of it in line with the bowl. If the ditch surface is sand, lines can be drawn around it. If it is vegetation or synthetic, chalk lines can be drawn (laws 14.4, 18.2 and 42.2.13).
• Further movement: if a marked toucher or jack in the ditch is validly moved again, its new position must be marked by moving the indicators and redrawing the lines (laws 16.3 and 18.5).

Dead bowls. The two players decide whether a bowl is dead, and they must ask the umpire if they cannot agree (law 17.3). A dead bowl must be removed from the rink of play as soon as it is declared dead (law 17.4). If both players agree, the marker must remove all dead bowls from the rink of play (law 42.2.12).

A bowl is dead if, for example, it is not a toucher and comes to rest in the ditch, or it comes to rest less than 14 metres from the centre of the mat line after completing its course or being moved by play (law 17.1).

Bowls from a neighbouring rink. You must stop any bowl from a neighbouring rink that could move a jack or bowl at rest (law 42.2.11). If a jack at rest is in danger of being moved by a bowl from a neighbouring rink, a player at the head or the marker must stop it. If that bowl was in its original course and was delivered on a bias that would have taken it back into its own rink, it must be replayed (law 38.6).

Measuring. You must measure any disputed shot or shots when asked to do so by either player (law 42.2.15). The process of deciding the shots must not start until the last bowl of the end has come to rest, or 30 seconds after that if a player asks for the 30-second period (law 23.1). Measure between the nearest points of the jack and the bowl (law 23.4). Do not move the jack or any bowls until the players have agreed the number of shots (law 42.2.14).

Calling an umpire. If the players are not satisfied with your measuring decision, you must ask the umpire to do the measuring. If the Controlling Body has not appointed an umpire, you must choose a competent neutral person to act as the umpire. The umpire's decision is final (law 42.2.15).

Other times the umpire is needed:

• If the players cannot agree whether a bowl or the jack is dead, they must ask the umpire to decide (laws 17.3 and 19.3).
• If the umpire is absent, you must make sure that all aspects of play are carried out in line with the laws, and check the bowls' World Bowls Stamps, the rink width and the distance markers before the game (law 42.1).

If you displace a bowl while marking it as a toucher, or with your measuring equipment, you must put the bowl back to a position agreed by the opponents. If they cannot agree, you must put it back to its former position (law 37.4.2).

If your measuring equipment displaces the jack, you must put the jack back to a position agreed by the opponents. If they cannot agree, you must put it back to its former position (law 38.4.2).

You must also not move, or cause to be moved, the jack or any bowls until the players have agreed the number of shots scored (law 42.2.14).

If a jack at rest on the rink, or in the ditch, is displaced by a non-toucher, an opponent or the marker must put it back to its former position (laws 38.5.2 and 38.5.3).

When each end has been completed, the marker must (law 42.3):

1. Record the score on the score card.
2. Tell the players the running totals of the scores, if scoreboards are not being used.
3. Remove the mat used during the previous end from the rink, if necessary.

Before recording, make sure the players have agreed the number of shots. The shots are decided by the nearest bowl or bowls to the jack that are nearer than the opponent's nearest bowl, and the players must be told (or have signalled to them) the number scored (law 22).

A tied end scores no shot for either player. It is declared tied and must still be recorded on the score card as a completed end (law 24.2).

A dead end is not counted as a completed end, and is replayed (law 20).

When the game has been completed, the marker must make sure the score card (law 42.4):

1. contains the names and signatures of the players;
2. contains the time at which the game was completed; and
3. is dealt with in line with the Conditions of Play.

The Conditions of Play are set by the Controlling Body, which is the body with immediate control over how the game is played: World Bowls, then a national authority such as Bowls Australia, then divisions within it, then the club on whose green the game is played (definition A and law 57.2).