THE BARNES ATTACK

Tournament favorite Lynda Barnes, from Flower Mound, Texas (pictured) had a literal strikefest Wednesday morning to dominate the ladies' standings and open up a 235 pin buffer over second-placed Wendy Chai of Malaysia, the overnight leader.

Barnes opened with a 279 and followed with games of 259, 246, 267, 247 and 233 for a World Cup ladies' record of 1531.

"I'm not a numbers person," commented Lynda, "but this could possibly be the highest six-game set I've ever bowled in my life."

Lynda's series opened this morning with two spares and ten strikes for a 279. Game two opened with another six in a row, giving her a run of 16. A couple of spares brought a 259.

"If we had bowled just two more frames during the practice session opened with a 300," joked Lynda's famous coach Jeri Edwards, "perhaps Lynda would have bowled a perfect game. It really was a treasure to see how Lynda bowled today."

Any specific changes to style or equipment? "No, she used the same ball as yesterday," responded Jeri. "The lanes were similar to last night and we matched up things to get what the lanes required."

Lynda's husband, Chris, is currently competing in the USBC Masters in Milwaukee, USA. "I'm experimenting with telepathic transference to send him some strikes," Lynda joked. "We both need to get on the same wavelength."

With the third squad now complete, the only change at the top of the leader board after the second shift is Helen Johnsson of Sweden, the early pacesetter, coming up into third place to demote England's fiona Banks one position downward.

The ladies' high game is 280, bowled by Piritta Kantola of Finland in the final game of last night's shift.

LADIES STANDINGS AFTER 18 GAMES: