Scots Ryan Bennett and Craig McNally finished one-two in their heat to reach the final of the men's 200 metres backstroke as the penultimate day of swimming began at the Commonwealth Games.

Bennett was fifth fastest qualifier but Australia are well placed to dominate the final, with 100m medallists Mitch Larkin and Josh Beaver among the fastest four.

Welshman Xavier Mohammed scraped into the final but England's only entrant, Roberto Pavoni, did not compete.

England's Benjamin Proud split the strong Australian team in the 50m freestyle heats to post the third fastest time in qualifying for tonight's semi-finals.

Cameron McEvoy was three hundredths of a second outside a Games record with a time of 22.04 seconds, while Proud came in at 22.21 - faster than 100m gold medallist James Magnussen.

Proud's team-mates, Adam Brown and James Disney-May, also qualified for the last 16 along with Scotland's Richard Schafers and Curtis Coulter of Northern Ireland.