This happened in our league last night:
A bowler is up on lane 13. During his approach, he falls on the approach, losing his ball off his hand. He fell and landed way short of the foul line. His ball rolled across the approach toward lane 14, and eventually found its way into the right gutter on lane 14. The ball eventually ended up going all the way down lane 14 (gutter), causing the pinspotter to cycle and return his ball.
We concluded that since the ball left his hand and rolled across the foul line that he had made a legal (if unorthodox) delivery. We considered the possibility that it should be considered a gutter ball and he should get zero on that ball (his first ball of the frame). After further consideration, and consulting the USBC rule book, we reconsidered, determining that he had "bowled" on the wrong lane, so therefore it was a dead ball and should be taken over again.
What do the rest of you think the ruling should have been?
We have e-mailed the USBC and I'll post the results when I hear them.
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RW (THB)