Johnston appointed lawn bowls head coach

One of Australia's most decorated lawn bowlers, Rex Johnston, has been appointed the new national coach to lead the team into the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Johnston will commence his duties immediately by overseeing next week's four-day national camp at the NSW Institute of Sport.

During a distinguished playing career, Johnston pulled on the green and gold on more than 300 occasions and in the process became the only Australian player to feature at four Commonwealth Games, capturing a gold and silver medal along the way.

He coached the Malta national team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

With Cameron Curtis recently tendering his resignation, Johnston, who has served as a national selector since 2006, has assumed the game's top job and will immediately begin plotting Australia's campaign for next year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

"It's exciting times ahead," Johnston said.

"I've got a few different ideas that I would like to implement, but it's basically building on what we've done in the past and hopefully improving.

"The transition (between Cameron and myself) should be fairly smooth and I think our preparation between now and Delhi should be brilliant."