Setback for Mcilroy in bowls

Mcilroy had an impressive first-up win on the opening day, disposing of Tongan Liam Hill in straight sets. But the match against Kelly always loomed as more of a challenge.

Kelly is a former singles world champion and took the silver medal in the singles at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

The Northern Irishman got off to a flying start and raced through the first set in double-quick time, winning it 10-1. Mcilroy looked somewhat bewildered and things got worse for him when he found himself trailing 6-0 after three ends of the second set.

However the New Zealander fought back strongly, though he ran out of time and lost the second set 7-5.

Mcilroy was philosophical afterwards. 'You can't play much better than he played. It was 11 out of 10. I played a few good shots but Gary always came up with something unbelievable to get out of it. If he carries on playing like that, he'll be hard to beat.'

With only one bowler progressing from each group, Mcilroy said he now needed to play good bowls in his next four matches and hope Kelly had a loss to let him back into the race.