Cumbrian pair miss out on a spot in the semifinal of the World Indoor Bowls Championship.

The duo of Paul Wallace and Kenny Johnstone qualified for the prestigious indoor competition with victory at the Cumbria Indoor Bowling.

Playing on the first day of the competition the Cumbrian duo pulled a tie break victory out of the hat against USA’s Rachel Marcuson and Jesse May.

Winning with the last bowl on a best of three end tie break to win 11-4, 4-10, 2-1 to set up a meeting with World Bowls Tour top 16 ranked players Les Gillett and Wayne Willgress.

It was a game of two halves, with the Cumbrians taking the first set and the Americans claiming the second and then leading the winner takes all best of three.

Johnstone and Wallace took the second and the American pair seemed to rally again to lead the final end.

Johnston played the perfect bowl to count that vital match winning shot and deny the American’s their moment of glory.

In the next round Wallace and Johnstone took the scalp of WBT Top 16 ranked players Les Gillett and Wayne Willgress.

Started slowly, the Cumbrian pair only scored on two of the first six ends of the opening set which saw them trail 6-3.

However they soon found their rhythm with a treble and back to back doubles to win the set 10-6.

The pair were in control of the second leading 5-3, but Gillett and Willgress rolled in a double and two singles to take the lead at 7-5 playing the last.

Needing two to progress they were holding a single, Johnstone’s first bowl was slightly heavy, but he made no mistake with his second bowl, calmly adding that vital second shot to square the set at 7-7 and put them into the quarterfinals.

In a close game Rob Paxton and reigning world indoor singles champion Jamie Walker beat Cumbria’s Paul Wallace and Kenny Johnstone 9-6, 7-5.

Two full houses of four shots were instrumental in both sets in formulating the overall result.

Paxton and Walker led 4-3 after five ends, but a full house of four shots on the sixth gave them an 8-4 advantage and carried on to win 9-6.

In the second the Cumbrian duo led 2-0 from the first two ends but Paxton and Walker racked up a full count of four to take a 4-2 lead.

At 5-6 down playing the last end, Wallace and Johnstone kept the scoring tight and actually held a set lie on the last end, but Walker had little hesitation in disturbing the head and chalking up the vital shot they required for their straight sets victory 7-5.

Imagine Cruising World Open Pairs

PRELIMINARY ROUND

Paul Wallace & Kenny Johnstone (Eng) bt Jesse May & Rachel Marcuson (USA) 11-4, 4-10, 2-1

ROUND 1

Paul Wallace & Kenny Johnstone (Eng) bt Les Gillett & Wayne Willgress (Eng) 10-6, 7-7

QUARTERFINALS

Rob Paxton & Jamie Walker (Eng) bt Paul Wallace & Kenny Johnstone (Eng) 9-6, 7-5