LAS VEGAS – The Earl Anthony pattern proved to be extremely high scoring Wednesday as the field was narrowed to the final 16 for the 2020 PBA World Championship.

After bowling 10 games each day over three days on the animal patterns, the action shifted to the 43-foot Earl Anthony pattern for 10 games of cashers qualifying Wednesday.

EJ Tackett, who entered the day in second place, jumped into the lead by nearly 250 pins with a 40-game total of 9,482, a 237.05 average at South Point Bowling Plaza.

RESULTS: PBA World Championship Cashers Round 2

Tackett put up his two highest five-game blocks of the tournament on Wednesday, finishing with 1,259 in the first round of cashers qualifying and 1,238 in the second. On the day, Tackett averaged 249.7.

Jason Belmonte did exactly the same, firing his best rounds of the week with 1,280 and 1,281, to move into second place with 9,236. Belmonte fired a 300 game in each round Wednesday.

Jesper Svensson sits in third place with 9,222, while Francois Lavoie is fourth with 9,146. Anthony Simonsen rounds out the top five with 9,140.

The other players who advanced into the top 16 were Chris Via, Jakob Butturff, Brad Miller, Kyle Troup, Darren Tang, Bill O’Neill, Kyle Sherman, Dom Barrett, BJ Moore, Marshall Kent and Kris Prather.

Chris Barnes was the first out, finishing in 17^th place with 8,938, a 223.45 average, and missing the cut by 28 pins.

The advancing players will bowl two eight-game rounds of match play Thursday to determine the five finalists for the stepladder, which will be contested on March 18.