Fina First have opened up a four point lead of the Middlesea Valletta Life National League after week five played at the Eden SuperBowl, which saw them beat previous fellow leaders Union Capital Group in a 2-6 score line.
Aercomms are in third and enjoyed an 8-0 hammering of NINE this week, while there was also a 100% victory for Royal Shock over QF Ltd. Pharmavet claimed a 6-2 win over Redwell Heating, and the match between HSBC and Ramis ended in a four-all draw.
Fina First and Union Capital Group went into their week five clash as joint league leaders, both looking to taking an early hold on the match. It was Fina First to managed to achieve that with their 735-797 opening victory, and they soon made it 0-4 thanks to a 765-793 win in game two.
Fina’s game slipped in the last of the set, allowing their opponents to slip a 770-711 win past them to make it 2-6 on the night giving Fina the advantage at the top of the table. Mark Muscat (Union Capital), 649, Bowler of the Week. Sue Abela (Fina First), 622, Bowler of the Week.
Champions Aercomms aided their title defence bid with an 8-0 trouncing of NINE, and are now third, six points behind leaders Fina First. The matched started with a 768-694 win in game one, followed by a 768-716 in game two to double Aercomms’ lead. Game three was a walk in the park for the stronger Aercomms outfit, finishing 800-626 to complete the whitewash. Kenneth Arpa (Aercomms), 639.
There was also a full point victory for Royal Shock, with QF Ltd the unlucky lot on the receiving end of the drubbing. The two teams are both mid-table, with QF just one point ahead of Royal Shock after this weeks match, which proceeded 671-800, 714-741, 745-760 all in favour of Royal Shock. David Fenech (Royal Shock), 601. Tiziana Carannante (QF Ltd), 545.
PharmaVet picked up a majority win against Redwell Heating in a rather up-and-down affair, in which the former took the early lead with an 804-739 opening win. Fortunes were reversed in game two where Redwell bounced back to level things with a 733-849 win, but then the pendulum swung back in PharmaVet’s favour as they wone game three 801-713 to claim the series by 37 pins (2338-2301).
The stalemate between HSBC and Ramis began with a 600-768 win for the latter. HSBC found their feet in game two which they managed to clinch 797-705 before going on to take the last of the series 710-697. That wasn’t enough to give them the match however, and Ramis had their big initial victory to thank for claiming the series points by 63 pins (2107-2170).
Standings - Division I, Week 5
Fina First-36, Union Capital Group-32, Aercomms-30, QF Ltd-20, Royal Shock-19, PharmaVet-16, Ramis-16, Redwell Heating-15, NINE-8, HSBC-6
Bowlers of the Week
Mark Muscat (Union Capital) 649; Sue Abela (Fina First) 622