Roy-Allan Burch came second in his 50 metres backstroke heat on his Commonwealth Games debut but it wasn't enough to earn him a place in last night's final.

In front of a packed crowd at the Manchester Aquatics Centre yesterday morning, Burch headed his six rivals in heat two from the halfway mark but was just pipped at the finish by Folahan Oluwole of Nigeria who touched in 29.26.

Mohammed Rubel Rana was third in 29.59, Jamie Zammitt fourth in 30.37, Kabir Walia fifth in 30.79 and Jean Francois Wai Choon of Mauritius sixth and last in 31.15.

Burch's finishing time of 29.53 seconds from lane five earned him 26th place out of 36 swimmers, but with only the top 16 qualifying for the semi-finals his time was never going to be enough.

England's Matt Welsh took the heats in a best time of 20.04 seconds with the final qualifying spot going to Roland Schoeman of South Africa in 26.69.

Burch, whose swimming exploits are very much at the fledgling stage in international terms, expressed disappointment with his time in what turned out to be a slow heat and said he had been suffering with an ailment.

"It wasn't a PB but it was pretty close, only three hundredths of a second out," he said after exiting the pool. "But my left leg started to cramp a little bit in my calf."

Prior to racing he said he had felt confident of putting in a decent time.

"I was pleased with my heat because some of my lanes are really bad in my other races," he said.

As for his chances in the upcoming heats of the men's 100 backstroke and the 50m and 100m freestyle, Burch said: "I feel good in the water. It's just my leg which I have to stretch a lot. It shouldn't (be a factor) but you can never tell."

Graham Smith, Burch's team-mate, goes today in the men's 100m breaststroke while Kiera Aitken figures in the women' 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle.

The last of the Island's quartet to compete, and number one swimmer, Ronald Cowen is in the heats of the men's 200m freestyle.

Tomorrow he swims the 100m equivalent with Burch, while Smith goes in the 50m breaststroke.

On Friday, Aitken is in heat two of the women's 50m backstroke and the 50m freestyle while Burch and Cowen are in the men's 100m backstroke.

The following day all three men see action in the men's 50m freestyle while Smith is the lone Islander in the pool on Sunday in the men's 200m breaststroke.