His former day job means he’s dubbed ‘Postman Pax’ and he’s not thinking about anything other than a first-class delivery of a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Robert Paxton advanced through his lawn bowls singles quarter-final with a second victory in two days over New Zealand’s world champion Shannon McIlroy.

Indeed since his shock defeat to Jamaican Andrew Newell - dubbed the Reggae Roller - the world number three has looked unstoppable. He ground out must-win matches in his final group games and held his nerve in an edgy contest with McIlroy.

North Tawton’s Paxton arrived on the Gold Coast looking at a double bid for medals, but saw his men’s four hopes ended by the Norfolk Islands at the quarter-final stage.

“What happened in the triples really fired me up for the singles and losing to Andrew really gave me a jolt that perhaps I needed in the singles,” he said.

“I wasn’t embarrassed to lose because this is international sport and these things happen, he deserved it. But losing gave me no margin for error, it turned every match into a knockout game for me.

“To beat Shannon twice in a couple of days is something you don’t get to do very often, especially in these conditions which he knows so well.

“It means I’m looking ahead with confidence and the more you play under pressure, the more you get used to the greens and your self-belief increases.”

Paxton lost in the final of the World Indoor Championships earlier this year, a defeat which cost him the £55,000 winners's cheque.

But there’s only pride at stake here, as he seeks to become the first English winner since the legendary David Bryant in 1978 - a man famed for playing while smoking a pipe, who won four back-to-back titles.

“You look at the history of our sport and the greats that have won the Commonwealth Games singles title, that’s worth as much as any cheque,” he said.

Elsewhere, Exeter’s Natalie Chestney and Paignton’s Sophie Tolchard suffered disappointment after a defeat to South Africa in their women’s pairs quarter-final.

The English pair were leading for most of the match until slipping up in the final stages. “I didn’t play well enough, Sophie set things up on every end but I was outbowled by their skip. It’s just incredibly disappointing and gutting,” said Chestney.

“It was close but that doesn’t mean anything.”

Tolchard’s brother Sam was also left pondering what might have been after England’s men’s fours lost in the semi-final to defending champions Scotland, letting a 7-0 lead slip in a 19-10 defeat.

He admitted: “There’s no point dwelling on it, but we’re going to,” said Tolchard, who will join forces with Louis Ridout, David Bolt and Jamie Chestney for the bronze-medal clash with Wales.

“It will be better going home with something than nothing but it’s disappointing to be so close and fall short. Bronze at the minute doesn’t sound too appealing.”

Finally, Giselle Ansley will not have the chance to add Commonwealth glory to her Olympic gold as England women fell in the semi-final of the hockey to New Zealand in a penalty shootout.

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