Team England beat Australia but had to settle for second to a successful host nation in the medals table. 

If ever England had an athlete they knew they could rely on for gold it was lawn bowls man David Bryant who won his fifth and final title in the singles. Bryant saw off the challenge of John Snell to claim the honour, the second successive year he had faced an Australian in the final.

Derek Talbot won his final three Commonwealth Games badminton medals to take his tally to seven, with four of the six titles going Team England's way with seven top three finishes. Nora Perry also won three gold medals, winning the mixed team, women's doubles and mixed doubles badminton events.

It was a Commonwealth Games debut for Daley Thompson, the decathlete who would go on to set the Games' record points total in his event. Finishing nearly 800 points ahead of his Kiwi rival Peter Hadfield and more than 1000 above fellow Englishman Alan Drayton, he celebrated a gold medal victory.