Bowls: England confirm class gap

ENGLAND extended their winning run to four in both the pairs and triples in the Woolwich World Bowls Championships at Worthing yesterday.

In the pairs, John Ottaway and Tony Allcock took a clear lead at the top of their section, coasting to a 28-13 win over Zambia before enjoying an equally comfortable 25-12 ride against their Argentine counterparts. In the triples, Roy Cutts, Andy Thomson and John Bell beat Zimbabwe 23-8 and Botswana 23-12.

Scotland's Richard Corsie and Alex Marshall had their third win in the pairs, but had to stage a remarkable recovery to edge out Jersey's David Le Marquand and Marcel Coutouly 25-23. They trailed 20-4 after 10 ends, picking up 20 shots on the next seven ends.

The defending pairs champions, Rowan Brassey and Peter Belliss, of New Zealand, dropped a maximum eight shots on the opening end of their game with Guernsey's Arian Welch and Mike Nicolle but recovered to win 24-18.