Bowls pairs right on target

Kurt Smith and Mark Noble in the men's para pair B6-B8 came out on the right end of a tight one against Garry Brown and Stuart Sloan of Scotland.

Smith and Noble got there in the end 4-3, 2-4, 1-0, winning their second successive tiebreaker. Australia, unbeaten after three matches, lead the group, with New Zealand and Scotland second equal, each with two wins and a loss.

Noble played a spectacular shot in the tiebreak, but while people were congratulating him, he said quietly, 'I think we had the shot anyway!'

Smith said they knew they faced a tough battle. 'I really wanted to be on my game today.'

Noble felt they needed to win one more match to be sure of progressing to the semi-finals.

The New Zealand men's pair of Tony Grantham and Ali Forsyth made extremely short work of Chad Nathan and Liam Hill of Tonga, winning 10-1, 9-0 in an absolute demolition.

They're in a tough group with Australia, Northern Ireland and New Zealand all unbeaten and all vying to win the group to be able to move to the semi-finals. New Zealand next meet Northern Ireland in a critical evening match.

'That was far better today,' Forsyth said. 'We were really happy with that. The result doesn't show it, but we know Tonga and how dangerous they are, so to get that result is very encouraging.'

There was brighter news for New Zealand's women's singles bowler Tayla Bruce, who recorded her first win in Glasgow, beating Boikhutso Mooketsi of Botswana 15-2, 5-4. This was much better from the former world champion, but the match was a real contrast.

In the first set Bruce peeled off ends of 4, 2, 4, 2 and 3 and was in superb touch. But in the second set she trailed 4-0 before fighting back with some good clutch bowls.