The English threesome defeated India 8-3 in the final at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Jose to collect a $5,000 first prize.

It was a superb performance as they finished the competition unbeaten. Former English amateur champion Lilley also produced the highest break of the tournament-134.

India gained a measure of compensation by taking the Seniors prize, coming from 4-1 down to deny New Zealand 6-5.

Lilley, Craggs and Rhodes won all six of the their group matches to reach the knockout stages and continued to steam roller the opposition. They beat Scotland 5-1 in the last eight and Hong Kong 6-1 in the penultimate round.

India’s team of Pankaj Advani, Manan Chandra and Yasin Merchant surprisingly defeated a strong Thailand squad 6-3 in the last four. But they had no answer to the North East boys who led 5-2 at the interval.

World billiards champion Geet Sethi was India’s hero, defeating Dene O’Kane in an 11th and deciding frame to clinch Seniors success.

O’Kane’s break of 63 gave him a 64-1 lead. But Sethi fought back to pinch frame and match 69-64.