You could also read it as a vowel.

(in bowling) to roll a ball along a smooth surface during a game of bowls or bowling

(in Cricket) to throw a ball towards a batsman (= the player who hits the ball) using a vertical circular movement of the arm while running:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bowl

It’s not short for bowling (although it can be expressed like that too), it’s the infinitive form of the verb, to bowl. “Have you seen the birds fly?”