The early stages of the Middlesea Valletta Life National League can be volatile ones, with teams clamouring for position, and changes at the top can be expected.
That’s what happened in week three of the current season at the Eden SuperBowl, St. Julian’s, where Aercomms managed to snatch the lead from Fina First after a 1-7 win against Royal Shock. The previous winners threw away what should have been at least a 2-6 win in the match of the week against stable mates Fina Excel, settling for a 4-all draw thanks to a shock result in game three. Majority wins went to Right Deal against The Rascals, Ramis over Globalair Travel and Alley Catz who beat Veltins, while there was a full point victory for Storm against the Blues Brothers.
Fina First were unable to retain their Division I lead, but only have themselves to blame after throwing away a considerable lead, and match victory, after a heavy defeat in game three. They had little trouble in snatching game one from opponents Fina Excel (3rd), winning it 759-805 and game two was a similar tale, falling to Fina First 737-792. This meant a 101 pin cushion as they rolled off in game three, which certainly provided the shock of the week. Excel won it 835-723, a margin of 112 pins, thus forcing the 4-4 draw. There was a brace of 589’s for Fina First’s Matthew Caruana and Steve Cassar, and it was also a twin achievement for Fina Excel’s Brian Farrugia and Franco Ricci, both on 603 pins.
Aercomms faced very little resistance in the first two games of their match against Royal Shock, scooping a 108 advantage in the opener which finished 680-788, and then strengthening that lead with another 71 pins after winning the second 706-777. They were surely confident of a match win with such a substantial lead, but each game is different to the next in tenpin bowling, and the extremely tight third game ended in a 735-735 tie, giving a single point to Royal Shock against Aercomms final match tally of seven points, enough to take them to first place. Aercomms’ Ray Falzon Reale claimed a 596 series, and Joe Cassar’s 537 was Royal Shock’s best individual result.
Right Deal are beginning to make an impression after their second consecutive win, having beaten The Rascals 2-6 this week to go fifth, although the encounter was rather a low-scoring one. The Rascals opened the exchange with a 709-667 win in game one, but Right Deal levelled the set in game two which they won 659-696. The whole match hung on game three as The Rascals held a nominal five pin advantage so far. Both teams produced their best respective games of the set, but the spoils went to Right Deal who won 746-768, thus taking the series points by 17 pins. Danial Swift bowled a 541 for the winners, and Rascal Amanda Cini took a 531.
The only full point victory of the week was that of Storm (10th) against an already struggling Blues Brothers outfit, the latter still awaiting their first points this season.
Current champions Veltins took an unexpected 2-6 beating from Alley Catz, after a poor series including an extremely low second game. y sealed the match in game two
Standings - Div.I, Week 3
Aercomms-21, Fina First-20, Fina Excel-16, Ramis-14, Right Deal-14, Veltins-12, Globalair Travel-12, Royal Shock-11, The Rascals-10, Storm-8, Alley Catz-6, Blues Brothers-0
Bowlers of the Week
Helenio Grech ( HSBC – Div III) 648; Tiziana Carannante (Tattingers – Div II) –613.