Ireland's Margaret Johnston kept herself in the hunt to retain the women's world singles bowls championships at Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, yesterday, with victories over Kenya's Maureen Burns and Israel's Merle Swerdlow.

In the fours, Ireland, captained by Dublin's Phillis Nolan, beat the US 20-15 but then went down to Scotland 22-24 to finish the day in 10th place in their group.