KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's singles specialist Ali Forsyth yesterday made the world bowls quarter-finals but only after he again had supporters at Christchurch's Burnside green reaching for the heart pills.
Halfway through his morning match with Papua New Guinea's Peter Juni, Forsyth was trailing 9-18 and such was his struggle for form it seemed certain he would be pushed back to fifth in his second, missing out on playing off for the medals.
"At 18-9 I thought the world was going to crash around me," Forsyth said. "I didn't have much idea what was going on and he was driving so well."
But by changing to the wider hand Forsyth began to claw his way back, and a crucial turning point came when Juni was 18-13, and holding two shots. Inexplicably, he changed hand in a bid to add a third bowl, only to pay the price of being too heavy by pushing both his bowls out leaving Forsyth with the shot.
As he had in previous matches, Juni then let his winning chance slip and with two consecutive twos to level at 18-all the momentum was then with Forsyth.
"That was one thing that ran through my mind that he had been in this position before and hadn't closed it out," Forsyth said.
Forsyth will now meet the South African Gerry Baker, winner of the other section, in today's quarter-finals and that will be no easy task, especially as the greens yesterday had slowed to about 14 seconds, which should help the South Africans as well as Northern Hemisphere bowlers.
Forsyth was left with a formality in his afternoon match, dispatching Israel's Daniel Keet 21-10, but was not happy with the conditions.
"I was just glad I'd made certain of it in the morning," he said.
Malaysia's Safuan Said, though beaten 21-9 by Canadian Ryan Bester in his last game, finished as the section's top qualifier and will meet Ireland's Martin McHugh in his quarter-final.
Bester, however, finished only third in the section after he was blown away in the morning by Australian Aron Sherriff.
Sherriff, second in the section, now plays Guernsey's Gary Pitschou, with Bester pitted against Scotland's Darren Burnett.
Having already ensured their places on Wednesday, the other New Zealand sides faced less pressure yesterday, but each came under unexpected tension.
Gary Lawson's men's four pipped Malaysia in a thriller to win 19-18 and, while the result was academic, were then upset 17-16 by Norfolk Island.
Jo Edwards and Val Smith in the women's pairs lost to Ireland's Margaret Johnston and Bernie O'Neill, and, while recovering to beat Jersey, almost found themselves pushed back to third by England's Ellen Falkner and Wendy King.
Their 37-6 thumping of Swaziland meant New Zealand made today's quarter-final against Philippines, rather than the dangerous Malaysia, by a single differential point.
Ireland's upset win meant Johnston, one of the greats of women's bowls, made the quarter-finals, meeting the formidable Scots, Kay Moran and Margaret Letham.
Sharon Sims' New Zealand women's triple secured top place in their section by narrowly beating Ireland 16-15, then had another 17-16. spinetingler over Botswana.