The 23-week long competition has come to its conclusion at the Eden SuperBowl, St. Julian’s, where Fina First put away new champions Veltins Premium Lager in style with a big 0-8 victory to secure second place.
The Fina marque also featured in third place in the form of Fina Excel who hammered Maltacom in the final fixture, just pipping Ramis into the bronze position also thanks to a couple of other favourable results in the top half of the classification.
Week 23 is known as the ‘Position Round’, when teams play against each other depending on the league standings as of week 22. Thus there was some very interesting jostling for position was witnessed.
Veltins were already confirmed as Division I champions the previous week, and so faced second placed Fina First in the final match. While Veltins had little to play for, one final victory over the illustrious Fina side would have been the ‘cherry on the cake’ this season, but of course Fina First had other plans.
The champions bore little resemblance to a league winning side as Fina strolled through game one to a 627-752 victory. There was little sign of improvement from the champs in game two in which they managed a 659, far short of of Fina’s solid 811 tally which practically assured them of a match victory. Game three was tight all the way, as Veltins strove to secure a two-point share of the match, but in the end it was Fina First’s night, the game finishing 752-765 in their favour. Matthew Caruana took 594 pins for Fina First, and Veltins’ best was a 565 from Mark Muscat.
Fina Excel showed up for their final match against Maltacom as underdogs for a top three placing, but came away with a big 8-0 victory, the team series of the week (2,379 pins) and also the trophy for third place.
All this after resorting to taking on a substitute bowler for the match due to their first team being plagued with injury and absentees. The game scores progressed 808-698, 800-750, 771-737 and included a sterling performance from Brian Farrugia who shot a great 654 series (246-233-175). Maltacom settle for sixth place.
Ramis had to be content with fourth place after their very impressive season, level on 114 points with Fina Excel but well down on the total accumulated season pinfall – tenpin bowling’s answer to football’s ‘goal difference’. Ramis faced Aercomms in the final week, the latter opening the scoring with a 742-684 win in the opener, but Ramis bounced right back to win the second and third 695-741 and 673-714 respectively.
This was enough to hand them a 2-6 victory, however they will be kicking themselves for not doing better in game one when even a draw would have sufficed for them to claim third place. Benny Hili clocked a 550 for Ramis, and Ray “300” Falzon claimed a 594 for Aercomms who finish in 5th place.
Other Results from Division I :
Thunder Storm-Café D’Or 6-2; The Masacuatas-Royal Shock 2-6; Vodafone-Toons 8-0.
The new season of the MTBA’s National League, once again under the prestigious sponsorship of Middlesea Life Valletta, will commence next month after a short break over the festive season.
Final Standings
Division I: Veltins Premium Lager – 129, Fina First – 120, Fina Excel – 114, Ramis – 114, Aercomms – 110, Maltacom – 104, Thunder Storm – 100, Café D’Or – 82, The Masacuatas – 72, Royal Shock – 67, Vodafone – 50, Toons – 42
Division II: Alley Catz – 132, Vintage – 118, Plaqqqq – 117, Tattingers – 107, Fireballs – 107, Wasodol – 106, Exotique – 100, Faces – 74, BOV Lifelink – 71, N I N E – 6, Gladiators – 59, Gym Stars – 41
Division III: Pin Busters – 125, Bank of Valletta – 113, Bounce Back – 110, HSBC – 108, Unplugged – 104, 4 Aces – 96, Highlanders – 93, Mask – 86, Info Express – 75, Back Again – 72, Touch of Class – 62, Niners – 58
Division IV: Mazini Auto Parts – 130, Femmes Fatales – 115, KPMG – 115, Kangaroos – 80, Lucky Strikers – 80, Los Boleros – 76, 4 Play – 66, Friends 2 – 42
Bowlers of the week
Rankin Camilleri (Alley Catz – Div II) 732; Amanda Cini (Vintage – Div II) 631.