Gourlay and Jackson cruise into Potters' semi

BOWLS: TWICE former winners David Gourlay and Lincoln's Billy Jackson moved through to their third world pairs semi-final in as many years at Potters yesterday after a confident 11-3, 10-3 win over top Australian opposition Brett Wilkie and Mark Casey.

"We both played well enough," admitted Gourlay, "but there's always room for improvement in everyone's game."

Their semi-final today will be a replay the 2006 final which went their way against local Norfolk player Mervyn King and Aussie Kelvin Kerkow 2-0 in a tie-break decider.

Yesterday, King and Kerkow were pushed all the way to the finishing line against No8 seeds Richard Morgan from Cardiff and Loughborough's Les Gillett.

They shared the first set at 5-5 and hit back from 4-5 down after six ends of the second, scoring successive double to take an 8-5 going into the last where they were content to drop a single to take the set 8-6.

Also winning through to today's semi-finals are No3 seeds Mark Royal and Simon Skelton. The English duo were also taken to the wire before sealing the verdict in a tie-break against their compatriots Jamie Chestney and Graham Smith 10-2, 6-8, 2-0.