England’s long wait for a women’s 100m Commonwealth Games champion will go on after Amy Hunt was squeezed into silver by New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs in the final at a sodden Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow.

There had been high hopes that the 24-year-old Hunt would be the sprinter to end a home nation drought in the Games’ blue riband event that stretches back 40 years to Heather Oakes’ victory in Edinburgh in 1986.

But while Hunt surged through the middle after a slow start to outpace her closest rivals, she reckoned without Hobbs, who stormed through from lane seven to triumph in a time of 10.93, with Hunt leading the chasing pack on 10.98.

Australia’s Torrie Lewis completed the podium with a time of 10.99 just in front of Hunt’s England team-mate Imani Lansiquot, who recorded a season’s best 11.02 to finish in fourth place.

Hunt had been favourite to claim a significant win following the late withdrawal of St Lucia’s Olympic champion Julien Alfred, and the decision by multiple world champion Shericka Jackson only to contest the relays.

She was also one of the few significant home nation medal hopes still standing across the track and field programme after a slew of late pull-outs including Katarina Johnson-Thompson and her sprint team-mate Dina Asher-Smith.

And despite a series of low-key health issues this season, Hunt certainly arrived in Glasgow on a high after recording a 200m season’s best despite finishing fifth at the Diamond League meting in London earlier this month.

Hunt, who beat Jackson to win world silver over 200m in Tokyo last year, had cruised through her semi-final earlier on Tuesday, shrugging off the teeming rain to qualify third fastest in 11.02 seconds – just ahead of Hobbs.

Welshman Jeremiah Azu finished fifth in the men’s 100m in a race won by Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme in a Games-record time of 9.83 seconds.

Eseme, the fastest qualifier from the semi-finals, started slowly but surged past silver medallist Lachlan Kennedy of Australia, who finished in 9.85 seconds.

Nigeria’s Kayinsola Ajayi took bronze in 9.90 with Azu, the world and European indoor champion over 60m, having to settle for fifth in a time of 10.03.

David Mullarkey claimed a bronze medal for the Isle of Man in the men’s 10,000 metres after he came in third behind winner Ky Robinson of Australia, with India’s Gulveer Singh taking silver.