Squad 7 was an all-English affair after the six-game block. John Wells of Tolworth, near London, came up one pin short of the 1400-barrier and Dominic Barrett, now from Colchester after moving house from Frinton-on-Sea, slipped into second place with 1364.

Maybe Barrett's bride-to-be, Cassie Staudinger from Australia, topped the women on this squad, shooting 1197 which, with her eight pin per game bonus, brought her up to 1245.

Wells, who is credited with more 300 games than most people have had birthdays, 42 'tis said, did not perform with a 300 during the evening, but grabbed the second highest of  the scores on the squad with 266. The best came from Federico Rossi of Italy with 278.

Wells now slots into fourth place in the overall standings.

Four more squads roll on Friday and a further four finish up the qualifying rounds on Saturday. The program on Sunday calls for rounds of elimination in the finals with the final game of the stepladder final televised live on Eurosport at 17:15 CET. Semi-finals and final will also be web streamed on www.tbowling.cat. Click on 'Eng' for the English version.

TOP TEN STANDINGS AFTER SQUAD 7: