The fifth week of the Middlesea Valletta Life National League at the SuperBowl saw Fina First retain their Division I lead thanks to a majority win over unlucky HSBC, while arch rivals Ramis (ex-Tabsat) produced a massive 2,649 series to steamroll early league leaders The Clan and replace them in second place.
Turu’s Knights picked up all eight against Royal Shock, to move into fourth, while PharmaVet also improved with a six-point win against bottom team NINE. The fixture between Blasters and Globalair Travel produced a four-all draw.
Impressive Ramis proved way too strong in their full point thrashing of early league leaders, The Clan. They began with a 790-831 win to open the scoring in their favour, and then doubled their advantage with a 746-836 win in game two.
Game three Was an absolute stunner, Ramis winning it with an incredible 982 pins against The Clan’s 838. That was the second highest team game ever played in the National Leagues, inferior only to their own 984 tally under the team name of Aercomms.
The four individual scores for game three also warrant comment, lining up as follows: Dennis Mercieca, 244. Kenneth Arpa, 245. Paul Baldacchino, 246. Rankin Camilleri, 247. Kenneth Arpa (Ramis), 684, Bowler of the week. Ray Falzon Reale (The Clan), 636.
Fina First’s victory against struggling HSBC began with a massive 917 game, which made their opponents’ good 792 effort seem insignificant. The second of the set was much closer, Fina First clinching it by 21 pins (787-766), and then HSBC managed to claim their two point share thanks to a 739-799 game three win. Mark Spiteri (Fina First), 636. Helenio Grech (HSBC), 597.
Turu’s Knights netted the second and final 100% win, against week five opponents Royal Shock. They began with a 774-724 win in the first, and then went four up after also bagging the second, 718-704. Royal Shock seemed demoralized by their poor fortunes, and went down 762-674 in the last of the series to hand all eight points to the Knights. Ryan Grech (Turu’s Knights), 640. David Fenech (Royal Shock), 520.
Team NINE’s nightmare of a season continues with their fifth consecutive defeat, this time at the hands of PharmaVet. The latter drew first blood with a 744-807 opening win, before to adding to NINE’s woes with a 690-741 win in game two. The bottom side then managed to pull back two points in the third thanks to a favourable 780-753 score line, thus doubling their season points to date to four. Danial Swift (PharmaVet), 583. Carl Borg (NINE), 573.
The final fixture of week five, Blasters versus Globalair Travel, produced a four-all stalemate. Gloabalair were first on the scoreboard with a 702-729 game one win, but it was soon all square at 2-2 as Blasters snatched game two, 801-749. Globalair took the third 738-752, which wasn’t enough to claim the match as Blasters were eleven pins better on the series (2,241–2,230, for the draw.
Bowlers of the Week
Kenneth Arpa (Ramis), 681; Sue Abela (Fina First), 621
Standings- Div. I, Week 5
Fina First-28, the Clan-28, Ramis-20, Globalair Travel-18, Turu’s Knights-18, PharmaVet-18, Blasters-12, Royal Shock-10, HSBC-6, NINE-2
Standings- Div. II, Week 5
Café Ole-34, Wasodol-28, Vintage-27, J Grima & Co-22, Bank of Valletta-20, Gladiators-18, Baboons-16, Supreme-13, Touch of Class-12, Blitzkrieg-10