Bowls: England's surge to record win

The English team in the men's fours event - John Attaway, Roy Cutts, Andy Thomson and John Bell - were in world-record form at Worthing yesterday. They beat Japan 69-5 in their seventh-round match in the Woolwich World Championships - the biggest win in the history of the event.

The England quartet will look back with pride on a 34-shot run over the last seven ends that gave them the record. They finished in style with counts of six on the 19th and 20th ends, and the maximum eight on the last. They were brought down to earth somewhat in their afternoon meeting with Guernsey when they struggled to a 24-22 victory to preserve their unbeaten record.

In the singles, Tony Allcock continued his improvement when he beat Joe Akaruru, from the Cook Islands, 25-13. Scotland's Richard Corsie, Ireland's Stevie Adamson and Will Thomas, of Wales, also won. Corsie beat Chai Hon Yoong, from Singapore, 25-13; Adamson recovered from a slow start to beat India's Pratap Bengani 25-17, and Thomas beat Swaziland's Hayley Abrahams 25-19.