When Duncan Busby sunk his final arrow in the centre of the archery target this afternoon, it marked not only a personal triumph but a national one too – for his individual compound gold was England’s 600th in Commonwealth Games history.

Busby’s was one of five gold medals for England on day six giving the team 24 in total, level pegging with India on golds but in second overall just 20 medals behind the Australians. 

Headlines:

Busby’s bullseye: Duncan Busby beat team-mate Chris White in the men’s individual compound final to chalk up England’s 600th gold medal in Commonwealth Games history just hours after Nicky Hunt nailed the women’s title.

Jackson’s joy: Jo Jackson got the ball rolling early – very early. The sports student had England’s first gold in the bag by 8.30am from the 20km walk, followed this evening by Louise Hazel who snaffled gold number two in the heptathlon.

North nabs gold: Anita North aimed straight and true to hit gold for England after taking her silver in the pairs trap, while James Huckle won his fourth medal of the Games, 11 for shooting.

England medals today:       Gold: 5; Silver: 6; Bronze: 9

England medal tally:           Gold: 24; Silver: 43; Bronze: 29.

Sport by sport round-up:

Athletics: Jackson ended 20 years of Australian domination in her event. Hazell followed Kelly Sotherton as heptathlon champion while Grace Clements played the Jess Ennis role with an unlikely bronze. Greg Rutherford leapt to long jump silver.

Archery: A second Games gold for the tearful and terribly accurate Nicky Hunt in the women’s compound singles was followed by an English 1-2 in the men’s event.

Badminton: The only England player in action today, Carl Baxter, easily won his men’s singles game against Wilson Tukire of Uganda.

Boxing: An exceptional day in the ring saw Obed Mbwakongo and Simon Vallily punch their way into the quarter-finals to join four others in the fight for semi-final places.

Hockey: A day of threes for England as the women win 3-0 over Malaysia and James Tindall strikes three times for the men in their 5-3 defeat of New Zealand. 

Lawn bowls: Unbeaten triples Mark Bantock, Rob Newman and Graham Shadwell qualified for the men’s semi-final, while the women’s triples made their semis and the women’s doubles are in the knock-out stages.

Shooting: Anita North went one better to claim gold in the single trap event, and James Huckle won his fourth medal from four competitions, this time a bronze in the 50m rifle 3-position event.

Squash: Easy wins for England’s doubles was the order of the day after all the sweeping emotion of the singles yesterday.

Swimming: With two silvers and five bronze medals on the final day, England exceeded their Melbourne tally with 34 from the pool, including seven golds.

Table tennis: Liam Pitchford was the hero of the men’s team final, but England had to settle for silver.

Tennis: Ken Skupski and Ross Hutchins were proud winners of silver in the men’s doubles after losing the three-set final to Australia’s Paul Hanley and Peter Luczak.

Wrestling: Sasha Madyarchyk won bronze in the men’s 60kg freestyle while Leon Rattigan followed with another in the 96kg event.