They beat Australia’s Cheryl Lindfield and Serena Bonnell 17-15 in the final.

"I thought I would never get to a Commonwealth Games, and if I did it would be as a spectator," Lenton said,

"This is effectively our Olympics because we cannot get any higher."

Scotland took control of the match in the fifth end and although the Australians briefly drew level, the Scots pulled away to win 17-5.

"We always knew we could do it, in the round robin we didn’t always produce it, but when it really mattered we did, and that’s the important thing," Lenton insisted.

Lenton was born in Yorkshire but moved to Scotland 40 years ago, though she only started playing bowls in 2005.

She turns 73 later this month and had previously won mixed pairs world silver in 2015.

Lenton carried the Queen's Baton in her adopted home town of Dumfries when it visited in June

In the bronze-medal match, South Africa’s Victoria van der Merwe and Desiree Levin beat England’s Michelle White and 74-year-old Gillian Platt.

Records for some of the early Commonwealth Games are incomplete, but it seems probable that Lenton could be the oldest gold medallist since the Games began in 1930.

Australia’s Dorothy Roach was only 62 when she won gold in women's fours at the Auckland Commonwealth Games in 1990.

English shooter Charlie Sexton was in his 60th year when he won the free pistol at Kingston 1966.