The Bowls Premier League (BPL) is the sport’s made-for-television, showpiece event.
Staged biannually, at Queensland’s Club Pine Rivers in November and New South Wales/Victoria border club Moama in February, the event was designed to change people’s perception of our sport.
The BPL is the Twenty20 of bowls – it’s fast, it’s loud, it attracts the world’s best bowlers and it appeals to non-bowlers who once upon a time may have seen bowls in a different light.
The players have embraced the BPL format and done a terrific job entertaining the crowds at the host venues and back at home tuning into the live broadcast on Fox Sports, Kayo Sports and Sky Sport NZ.
Sydney Saints and Geelong Jets inclusion sees expansion of Bowls Premier League to 12 franchises.
Bowls Premier League 20 – #BPL20
November 11-15, 2024 at Club Pine Rivers, Brisbane, QLD
• Day Sessions: From ~9am AEST (Stream live via the Bowls Australia Facebook page & YouTube channel)
• Night Sessions: From 4pm AEST (Watch live via Fox Sports, Kayo Sports, Sky Sport NZ and on Bowls Australia’s Facebook page for international viewers)
BPL20 – Schedule and Results (coming soon)
Draw and Results
Schedule
Conditions of Play
Teams (#BPL20 – full teams coming soon)
Event Format & Rules
Each of the 12 BPL teams will play each other twice over 22 rounds during the competition. At the end of the qualifying rounds, the top five teams will play off in Friday night’s finals series.
The top five teams are decided by points. If teams are equal on points they will be split on net total shots (shots for minus shots against).
Each match consists of two five-end sets, with a one-end tie-break played if required. The game format is pairs, with three bowls for each player per end. BPL matches take just over one hour from start to finish and deciding the winner is simple. The team that wins both sets or one set and then the tie-break is the winner.
Instead of spending time rolling the jack, as per normal competitions, BPL players place the mat and advise the marker the length of the jack they would like to play to.
To keep games progressing, players will have 30 seconds to deliver their bowl from the time the jack is placed at the start of an end, or once their opposition bowl has come to a rest, ensuring the next suspenseful result is only moments away.
BPL teams will also be able to nominate one Power Play end per set, enabling teams to earn double the shots scored in that end.
Some days players just aren’t on top of their game, maybe its only for a few ends, maybe its for a whole match, in order to get the best players the sport has to offer out on the green, a team coach can replace a player with a substitute during the game, but only immediately preceding the delivery of a bowl by their team player.
If a tie-break is required to decide the winner, all players on both teams will take to the green, with the format changing to two-bowl-triples for that end.
Honour Roll
Edition | Year | Location | Winner | Score | R/U | MVP |
BPL19 | 2024 | Moama | Melbourne Pulse | 1-10, 7-4, 1-0 | Moreton Bay Pirates | Gary Kelly (Melbourne Pulse) |
BPL18 | 2023 | Brisbane | Tweed Heads Ospreys | 4-6, 6-5, 1-0 | Melbourne eXtreme | Aaron Teys (Tweed Heads Ospreys) |
BPL17 | 2023 | Moama | Moama Steamers | 5-2, 6-2 | Sydney Lions | Aron Sherriff (Moama Steamers) |
BPL16 | 2022 | Brisbane | Melbourne Pulse | 6-3, 10-1 | Adelaide Pioneers | Corey Wedlock (Tweed Heads Ospreys) |
BPL15 | 2022 (April) | Brisbane | Melbourne Pulse | 5-3, 3-8, 1-0 | Melbourne eXtreme | Aron Sherriff (Moama Steamers) |
BPL14 | 2022 | Moama | Sydney Lions | 5-11, 7-4, 1-0 | Moama Steamers | Aron Sherriff (Gold Coast Hawks) |
BPL13 | 2021 (April) | Brisbane | Tweed Heads Ospreys | 12-2, 7-1 | Murray Steamers | Aaron Teys (Tweed Heads Ospreys) |
BPL12 | 2021 | Moama | Tweed Heads Ospreys | 4-1, 6-0 | Adelaide Pioneers | Scott Thulborn (Adelaide Pioneers) |
BPL11 | 2020 | Moama | Murray Steamers | 6-1, 3-11, 1-0 | Melbourne Roys | Aron Sherriff (Sydney Lions) & Aaron Wilson (Melbourne Roys) |
BPL10 | 2019 | Brisbane | Tweed Heads Ospreys | 9-0, 8-1 | Sydney Lions | Aaron Teys (Tweed Heads Ospreys) |
BPL09 | 2019 | Lower Hutt (NZ) | Illawarra Gorillas | 6-9, 7-1, 1-0 | Brisbane Pirates | Alex Marshall (Brisbane Pirates) |
BPL08 | 2018 | Brisbane | Brisbane Pirates | 9-2, 6-2 | Murray Steamers | Ryan Bester (Murray Steamers) |
BPL07 | 2018 | Lower Hutt (NZ) | Gold Coast Hawks | 5-3, 7-7 | Brisbane Pirates | Aron Sherriff (Gold Coast Hawks) |
BPL06 | 2017 | Brisbane | Sydney Lions | 10-0, 8-1 | Illawarra Gorillas | Aron Sherriff (Sydney Lions) |
BPL05 | 2017 | Auckland (NZ) | Sydney Lions | 3-2, 6-3 | New Zealand Blackjacks | Shannon McIlroy (New Zealand Blackjacks) |
BPL04 | 2016 | Brisbane | Sydney Lions | 6-4, 10-6 | Murray Steamers | Ryan Bester (Murray Steamers) |
APL03 | 2015 | Brisbane | New Zealand Blackjacks | 6-3, 0-8, 1-0 | Adelaide Endurance | Mark Casey (Gold Coast Hawks) |
APL02 | 2014 | Brisbane | Murray Steamers | 6-2, 5-3 | Adelaide Endurance | Alex Marshall (Murray Steamers) |
APL01 | 2013 | Brisbane | Brisbane Gold | 4-4, 8-2 | Adelaide Endurance | Scott Thulborn (Adelaide Endurance) |
MVP record
Player | MVP events | Total |
Aron Sherriff | BPL06, BPL07, BPL11*, BPL14, BPL15, BPL17 | 6 |
Aaron Teys | BPL10, BPL13, BPL18 | 3 |
Scott Thulborn | APL01, BPL12 | 2 |
Alex Marshall | APL02, BPL09 | 2 |
Ryan Bester | BPL04, BPL08 | 2 |
Mark Casey | APL03 | 1 |
Shannon McIlroy | BPL05 | 1 |
Aaron Wilson | BPL11* | 1 |
Corey Wedlock | BPL16 | 1 |
Gary Kelly | BPL19 | 1 |
BPL All Stars
All Star (MVP) | All Star | All Star | Coach | |
BPL19 | Gary Kelly (Melbourne Pulse) | Aaron Wilson (Sydney Lions) | Dawn Hayman (Moreton Bay Pirates) | Jeremy Henry/Andrew Breeden-Walton (Melbourne Pulse) |
BPL18 | Aaron Teys (Tweed Heads Ospreys) | Aron Sherriff (Moama Steamers) | Kylie Whitehead (Melbourne eXtreme) | Wayne Turley (Tweed Heads Ospreys) |
BPL17 | Aron Sherriff (Moama Steamers) | Aaron Wilson (Sydney Lions) | Jo Edwards (Moreton Bay Pirates) | Kevin Anderson (Moama Steamers) |
BPL16 | Corey Wedlock (Tweed Heads Ospreys) | Gary Kelly (Melbourne Pulse) | Rebecca Van Asch (Tasmania Tridents) | Jeremy Henry (Melbourne Pulse) |
BPL15 | Aron Sherriff (Moama Steamers) | Matt Flapper (Melbourne eXtreme) | Rebecca Van Asch (Tasmania Tridents) | Jeremy Henry/ Scott De Jongh (Melbourne Pulse) |
BPL14 | Aron Sherriff (Gold Coast Hawks) | Ben Twist (Sydney Lions) | Kelsey Cottrell (Gold Coast Hawks) | Steve Glasson (Sydney Lions) |