Bowls: Meyer makes clean start in singles

Russell Meyer suffered a scare before finishing the first day of singles play unbeaten at the men's world bowls championships in Ayr, Scotland this morning (NZ time).

The Gary Lawson-skipped fours opened with a win and a loss after being upset 20-21 by Kenya.

Meyer was never behind in beating Canada's David Anderson 21-13 in the morning match but was pushed all the way by Samoa's Ieramia Leautuli in the second session.

The big Samoan actually held two and the match at 19-19, before Meyer recovered to win 21-19 to be two from two on the opening day.

Lawson, with fellow triples silver medallists Sean Johnson at lead and Rowan Brassey at three, seemed to have quickly shaken off any disappointment over missing gold the previous day. They raced to a 33-0 lead in their morning match against Samoa and closed 42-2 winners.

However, in the afternoon sunshine they struggled to make up ground on Kenya after conceding a first end seven. They took the lead only as the finish line approached, 19-16 up with three to play.

But in a seesawing finish they dropped three to be level again, scored a single to lead 20-19 playing the last, only to concede a two to lose 20-21.

Needing to finish in the top three of their six-team pool to qualify for the championship rounds, Lawson and his team, which also includes Paul Girdler, will be seeking wins over Jersey and Canada tomorrow morning.

Meyer plays Malaysia and Namibia tonight, looking for two wins that would almost certainly see him progress.

By a quirk of the draw both Meyer and the four face final round matches against old rival Australia, and will be keen not to need a win there to move to the next stage.

- NZPA