Weale (left) on the podium with Kelvin Kerkow of Australia

Weale, 43, went down 7-4 2-9 2-1, after a tie-breaker against against Australian champion Kelvin Kerkow.

Compatriot Morgan, 63, also had to settle for a silver medal after losing 10-5 9-5 to Malaysia's Siti Zalina Ahmad in the women's singles final.

England's Stephen Farish and Northern Ireland's Margaret Johnston both lost their bronze medal matches.

I'm not disappointed at not getting gold but that I allowed the wind element to get to me Betty Morgan

Farish eased through the preliminary round and quarter-finals, but his winning streak ended in the semi-finals, when he lost to Kerkow 7-7 8-10.

In the bronze-medal match, he took on Canadian Ryan Bester, who had lost his semi-final against Weale 9-9 9-8, but was defeated in a tie-break 9-7 3-11 0-2.

Team England men's lawn bowls manager John Bell said: "Steve was one of the best players in the competition and he didn't deserve to go away with nothing. It just wasn't his day.

Feature: How hard is bowls?

"He got a bad result about halfway through the second set, and that took the wind out of his sails.

"In the tie-break he was within an inch from the jack but the Canadian had luck on his side and got a run, which gave him the end."

The scenes at the end were amazing, we don't usually see that at bowls! Robert Weale

Llandrindod Wells' Morgan was disappointed at her inability to handle the conditons in the final.

"I'm not disappointed at not getting gold but that I allowed the wind element to get to me," she said.

"I found one end unplayable but Ahmad played it very well, I was always in trouble."

Hereford-man Weale says that the quality of his match with Kerkow compensated for his narrow defeat.

"It was so satisfying to play in such a high-class match as that," he said.

"He drew a magic ball to win. The scenes at the end were amazing, we don't usually see that at bowls!

"I'll be back to try again. The omen is good - bronze in Manchester, silver in Melbourne, perhaps gold in New Delhi!"