Week five of the Middlesea Valletta National Life League at the SuperBowl saw okmalta.com claim back a narrow Div I lead from opponents Fina, thanks to a favourable 2-6 result.
Fina are second while Globalair Travel’s convincing 8-0 thrashing of PharmaVet sees them climb to third place, with Ramis down to fourth after a 6-2 beating at the hands of Turu’s Knights. HSBC lie fifth after their 2-6 victory against The Clan, While there was a similar majority win for Salitos over Bank of Valletta in the remaining encounter of the week.
The ongoing tussle for the top spot in Division I saw a week five clash between main protagonists, Fina and okmalta.com, the latter coming out of it as 2-6 winners, and league leaders by a shaky two points. Okmalta.com are a definite force to be reckoned with, partly thanks to new signing Mark Spiteri (current league hi-average, 219.9) who they managed to steal away from formidable Fina during the closed season. Okmalta.com won the opener 717-787, and then went four ahead with a great 756-862 win the second. Their game faltered in game three and they allowed Fina to snatch a two-point share with a winning 741-711 effort. Mark Spiteri (okmalta.com), 633. Mark Muscat (Fina), 596.
Globalair Travel improved to third place after they notched up the only 100% win of week five, against seventh placed PharmaVet. Globalair claimed a modest 753-723 opening victory, and then doubled their lead with a better 804-730 win in game two.
They were 104 ahead as the last game of the series rolled off, and that fell 773-724 in their favour to round off the full point victory, putting Globalair level with Fina in second on points, but third on pinfall. Neil Sullivan (Globalair Travel), 645, Bowler of the Week. Meliossa Swift (PhamraVet), 537.
Turu’s Knights finally broke an awful bad streak this week, with a great 6-2 victory against defending champions Ramis (fourth) with which they also bagged the team series of the week (2411). The Knights started will with a 795-718 game one win, and then made it 4-0 by easily taking game two 805-726.
Turu’s were on a high going into game three with their sights set on a great victory, but incredibly Ramis managed to pull a monster game out of the hat, including an inspiring 275 from Kenneth Arpa, to win it 811-937 for a brilliant match finale and a quarter share of the points. Kenneth Arpa (Ramis), 640. Philippe Vancell (Turu’s Knights), 639.
HSBC made it two match wins in a row with a 2-6 week five result in their favour, lifting themselves into fifth place with the victory. It was actually opponents The Clan (eighth) who were first to get onto the score board, starting the series with a 717-655 ice-breaker. HSBC then came back with a 623-692 mid-match equaliser, clutching a marginal seven pin advantage as they headed for the deciding final game. The match was still anyone’s at this stage, and HSBC’s tight 727-742 was enough to bag it (series 2067-2089). Helenio Grech (HSBC), 571. Matthew Cossai (The Clan), 535.
Bank of Valletta are having a nightmare season to date, going down 6-2 to Salitos this week to make it five defeats from as many matches. Salitos won the opener with ease, 756-683, and doubled their lead with a 696-641 game two win. Bank of Valletta rallied somewhat to take game three 658-737, but missed out on tying the series by 22 pins (2,067-2,089). Benny Hili (Salitos), 504. Mario Grima (Bank of Valetta), 503.
Standings – Div. I, Week 5
okmalta.com-32, Fina-30, Globalair Travel-30, Ramis-27, HSBC-20, Salitos-17, PharmaVet-16, The Clan-14, Turu’s Knights-10, Bank of Valletta - 4
Bowlers of the Week
Sue Abela (Fina) 567; Neil Sullivan (Globalair Travel) 639