England miss out on lawn bowls gold, Northern Ireland take bronze

England have missed out on a lawn bowls gold medal in the women's pairs, having been edged out by South Africa at the Commonwealth Games.

Natalie Melmore and Jamie-Lea Winch came out second best in a thrilling contest that ended 20-17 at Kelvingrove.

England found themselves 7-1 down following the fourth end, but battled back to take the lead in the seventh in what turned out to be a back-and-forth battle.

With four ends to go England were in command at 16-11, yet they failed to take their chances in the latter stages of the gold-medal match and Australia levelled up to ensure that an extra end would be needed to separate the two sides.

Australian pair Tracy-Lee Botha and Colleen Piketh had the final bowl in the extra and they made it count, eventually prevailing with a three-point lead to win gold.

Northern Ireland took bronze - their first in the women's lawn bowls event since 2002 - after Mandy Cunningham and Barbara Cameron narrowly beat Jersey 15-14.

Jersey have not won a medal at the Games since 1990.