Bowls: Greens turned into blues as bowls switches on to colour TV

Channel-hoppers skipping through afternoon television this week may have found the World Indoors Bowls Championships on BBC2 somewhat difficult to ignore.

At first glance, the broadcast of the championships, which are taking place near Great Yarmouth, looks like a moving test-card. Red and green bowls, yellow jack, blue playing surface – all of the colours are glaringly present.

But are they correct? Isn't the whole point of bowls supposed to be that it is a traditional game played on green? Not according to Nigel Oldfield, the new chief executive of the World Bowls Tour.

His task last year was to revamp the game's format to make it more televisual and the results, which received an early airing in the Open championships at Blackpool two months ago, have been on show in the homely surrounds of Potters Leisure Resort on the Norfolk coast.

"The most important thing was to make a statement to people – to say, 'Bowls is changing, it's moved on'," Mr Oldfield said. "People say it's all being done to get the youngsters involved, but it's not that. It's simply a matter of making the game more accessible to viewers in general."

Thus the bowls, which were previously black and differentiated only by coloured stickers, have been made easier to distinguish, and matches now last for two rather than three sets, with a tie-breaker of just three ends employed in the case of drawn matches. If that fails to produce a winner, the match can be decided by a single bowl from each player.

No one has looked further than that eventuality so far. But if the final two bowls should end up equally close to the jack, the match could always be decided according to which player looks better in the new regulation tracksuits – coloured, of course.

Some of the players have been muttering darkly this week about looking like Teletubbies. (Red for Po, green for Dipsy.) It is a fair point – one that the defending champion, Paul Foster, addresses with the security of a man at ease with his figure.

"I don't have any objections to the tracksuits, but they don't look good on the bigger players," he said, with the suggestion of a grin.

Charles Blanchflower, one of four members of the Gosling Stadium bowls club from Welwyn Garden City watching the action this week, was put in mind of a different image. "They look like mechanics who have just slid out from under your car," he said.

Mr Oldfield, who was also responsible for updating snooker's image in his 12 years with the World Snooker Association, is generally pleased with the reception that the revamp has been given by players and spectators. And of course, by the BBC, which confirmed a new three-year broadcasting deal with the sport yesterday.

"Under the old scoring system, you could get matches ending after half an hour, or going on for three or four hours," he said. "That was totally impractical for the purposes of television. Most matches now last for an hour and a half, which is a very edible lump for television viewers."

That said, a number of viewers were left choking with frustration on Thursday as live coverage of Ian Bond's win over the world number one, David Gourlay, was cut halfway through the second of the tie-break ends. "We had to go to Westminster Live," a BBC spokesperson said. "The predictability of how long matches last has got much better since the rule changes, but it will never be an exact science."

The blue carpet – electric blue, to give its formal title – is likely to be the rink colour of choice for the next three years, although Mr Oldfield does not rule out flexibility. "We don't always have to do it the same way," he said. "We could have a pink carpet with blue spots."

He was joking.

There are other changes. In the past, when an end has not been going well, players have been able to crash the jack into the ditch with a drive. The tactic, known as firing, in effect wipes the slate clean. But if that happens now under World Bowls Tour rules, the jack is placed back on the rink.

No more evading the challenge. Another improvement to the bright new world of bowls.