Week nine marks the end of round one in the Middlesea Valletta Life National League being played out at the Eden SuperBowl, and saw another full point win for Globalair Travel over Royal Shock to put them right up in third place. Week nine also saw the first clash of the season between prior leaders Aercomms and defending champions Fina First which saw the latter claim a 2 - 6 win to go top.
In other matches there were 6 - 2 wins for HSBC against PharmaVet and Turu’s Knights against Ramis. Inlusion claimed all eight against bottom side The Clan, who may already resigned to relegation even though the season is only at it’s half-way point.
It was only three weeks ago that Globalair Travel were down in the relegation zone after their shaky start to the season, but their more recent determined form has produced a succession of three match wins, including this week's 8 - 0 hammering of Royal Shock, which has catapulted them up the classification to third place.
They are now an attainable ten points down on second and twelve behind the top spot. They began the clash with a 797 - 767 win in game one, and carried on with sound playing consistency to win game two 776 - 734, and then seal the full point result with a final 757 - 688 win in the last of the set. Mark Bugeja (Globalair Travel), 627. Joe Cassar (Royal Shock), 605.
Week nine saw the first of the much anticipated clashes between Fina First and their nemeses Aercomms. It was every bit the thriller it was expected to be, starting with a narrow 796 - 811 opening win for Fina, followed by a strong Aercomms fight back in game two, which they clinched 849 - 785 to make it two-all and claim a modest advantage of 49 pins heading into the deciding third game.
Fina pulled off the victory with an excellent 713 - 982 match winner, their massive game including individual efforts of 279 from youngster Justin Caruana Scicluna, a 258 from Sue Abela, a 235 from Brian Farrugia, while Mark Spiteri could hardly be classed as ‘low’ with his 209 game. Sue Abela (Fina First), 703, Bowler of the Week. Kenneth Arpa (Aercomms), 650, also Bowler of the Week.
PharmaVet drop a spot to fourth after their 6 - 2 week nine defeat at the hands of HSBC, who remain eighth. Game one went down to the wire with HSBC just scraping past the post seven pins ahead (799 - 792) to make it 2 - 0, before doubling their lead with a 783 - 742 game two win. HSBC dropped to a low 727 in game three, allowing PharmaVet to claim their quarter share of the points with their 750 game winning score. Ray Mifsud (HSBC), 638. Steve Cassar (PharmaVet), 619.
Turu’s Knights aided their survival struggle with a 6 - 2 win over Ramis this week, although they are still nestled in the drop zone (9th). Ramis took the early points with a 718 - 756 game one win, but things were soon all square thanks to the Knights' good 793 - 748 equaliser in game two.
It was anybody’s for the taking as game three rolled off, but Turu's Knights made sure of the majority share of the points with a 786 - 745 result, taking the series by 48 pins (2297 - 2249). Tiziana Carannante, Peter Mallia (Turu's Knights), both 550. John Balani (Ramis), also 550.
The Clan’s Div I misery continued through week nine as they slumped 0 - 8 against Inlusion who improve one place to sixth. Inlusion suffered little resistance in their 666 - 807 opening victory, but game two proved a different matter with The Clan coming within four points of victory, Inlusion just pipping them 740 - 744. Game three was another demoralising one for the eventual losers as it went 741 - 815 to Inlusion to complete the whitewash. Tony Paris (Inlusion), 592. Steve Larman (The Clan), 512.
Bowlers of the Week:
Kenneth Arpa (Aercomms), 650
Sue Abela (Fina First), 703
Standings - Week 9
Fina First - 52, Aercomms - 50, Globalair Travel - 40, PharmaVet - 38, Ramis - 38, Inlusion - 38, Royal Shock - 36, HSBC - 34, Turu’s Knights - 28, The Clan – 6