The Middlesea Valletta Life National League at the Eden SuperBowl witnessed another shock in week 14, as the mighty Aercomms suffered a humiliating 8-0 beating at the hands of relegation probables, team NINE. Leaders Fina First capitalized on this by beating Union Capital Group 6-2 to go 15 points clear, and there was a similar victory for Royal Shock against QF Ltd. HSBC moved out of the bottom three with the only other full point victory of the week, while a four-all tie was the outcome of the Redwell Heating vs PharmaVet.

To be fair to Aercomms, all three games of the series went to their lowly opponents NINE with very score lines, but the defending champions deserved nothing better considering the shoddy performance they gave on the lanes. NINE clinched the whitewash with straight wins of 721-700, 679-672, 764-758. Their eight point gift from the exasperated losers bolstering their survival hopes. Alan Borg (NINE), 555. Rankin Camilleri (Aercomms), 551.

Aercomms abysmal showing opened the door to further extend their lead at the top of the table, and they did just that, to a whole fifteen points, thanks to a 6-2 win over third placed Union Capital Group. Fina took the first of the set 695-665 to open the scoring, and then made it 4-0 with an 807-767 winner in game two. Their game dropped to a 684 in the third, which was claimed by Union Capital’s 713 effort, for the latter’s quarter share of the points. Sue Abela (Fina First), 574, Bowler of the Week. Mark Bugeja (Union Capital), 561.

HSBC were glad of their full point win against Ramis this week, the result placing them in seventh place as they gradually drift ahead of the drop-zone. Ramis are now in relegation danger having lost all three games in the encounter; 717-756, 700-720, 653-709. The defeat puts them down to eighth on an equal 40-point tally to that of Ramis who are second from bottom. Leli Baldacchino (HSBC), 550. Lawrence Bonnici (Ramis), 583.

Royal Shock rolled the best team series of the week (2,324) to beat opponents QF Ltd six points to two. They easily took game one 795-727, but then it was QF’s turn for a big game as they drew level with a brilliant 856 against a 770 from Royal Shock. The match hung on game three, and it was Royal Shock who were equal to the challenge as they won it 759-705, thus taking the series points by 36 pins (2,324-2,288). David Fenech (Royal Shock), 575. Philippe Vancell (QF Ltd), 593, Bowler of the Week.

Four all was the outcome of the Redwell Heating vs PharmaVet clash, the final fixture of the week. PharmaVet drew first blood by taking game one 745-789, but it was 2-2 after game two which fell to Redwell 725-709, leaving PharmaVet with a modest 28 pin advantage going into game three. That went narrowly to Redwell Heating, 700-694 the game score meaning an equal share for both. Shawn Bugeja, Joanna Attard (Redwell Heating), both 519. Colin Attard (PharmaVet), 564.

Standings – Div. I, Week 14

Fina First-90, Aercomms-75, Union Capital Group-69, Royal Shock-55, QF Ltd-54, PharmaVet-54, HSBC-48, Ramis-40, NINE-40, Redwell Heating-35

Bowlers of the Week

Philippe Vancell (QF Ltd) 593; Sue Abela (Fina First) 574