The Middlesea Valletta Life National league has already progressed through five from 19 weeks at the Eden SuperBowl, where top two Aercomms and Fina First are again locked in their familiar battle for the top spot.

Both enjoyed full point victories this week, Aercomms doling out a huge thrashing to strugglers Globalair Travel, while Fina made short work of bottom side The Clan. Royal Shock stay third with a 6-2 win over PharmaVet as the top three now slowly drift away from the pack, and there was a similar win for fifth placed Inlusion against Turu’s Knights. The match between Ramis and HSBC ended in a four-all draw.

Aercomms claimed the highest team series to date, destroying Globalair Travel with a fantastic 2649 joint effort.

Game one was their best of the set, 710-900 the scoreline, and they went on to make it 0-4 with a solid 819-879 win in game two. Globalair had given up the ghost by game three, which Aercomms inevitably won 709-870 to complete their massive win. Kenneth Arpa (Aercomms), 705. Mark Muscat (Globalair Travel), 595.

Defending champions Fina First served up a similar drubbing to league losers The Clan, shooting a 2618 series in the process, including an incredible 959 team game, also a season record to date.

Fina were no less than 245 pins ahead after game one which they won 873-628. They doubled their lead with a 786-718 result in game two, and then came their monster 959 game in game three, putting The Clan’s decent 759 effort in the shade. Fina’s Mark Spiteri set another two season-to-date records, rolling a fantastic 278 third game, which rounded off an excellent 741 series. Stephen Larman (The Clan), 559.

Royal Shock stay third after their 6-2 victory against PharmaVet in week five, pulling six points ahead of HSBC in fourth place. They opened the scoring with a 739-703 game one win, but then PharmaVet came back to level it with a close 712-720 second game equaliser. It was Royal Shock who prevailed in the end thanks to their 793-769 deciding win, which handed them the series points by 52 pins (2244-2192). Joe Cassar (Royal Shock), 594. Danial Swift (PharmaVet), 563.

Inlusion’s campaign to stay in the top flight beyond this their first season is well on track, as they picked up a 6-2 victory against Turu’s Knights this week.

It was the latter who first made the score board, taking the opening game 705-768, but Inlusion then claimed game two 749-715 to make it 2-2. Their game three win of 768-716 sealed victory for Inlusion who were 23 pins better over the series (2,222-2,199). Ramon Casha (Inlusion), 545. Matthew Caruana (Turu’s Knights), 634.

The Ramis vs HSBC encounter saw a straight split of the points, 4-4 the final score line. Ramis began with an 817-768 opening win, but then dropped to a 687-837 defeat in game two, which would eventually be the deciding factor in the tied result. Although Ramis won game three 759-735 to make it two games to one, that heavy game two defeat meant that the series totals swung in HSBC’s favour by 82 pins to force the match draw (2263-2345). Charles Farrugia (Ramis), 566. Marco Porsella Flores (HSBC), 551.

Bowlers of the Week

Mark Spiteri (Fina First) 741; Sue Abela (Fina First) 638

Standings-Week 5

Aercomms-32, Fina First-30, Royal Shock-28, HSBC-22, Inlusion-22, Turu’s Knights-20, Pharmavet-16, Ramis-16, Globalair Travel-12, The Clan – 2