Karl Boyes and Darren Appleton of England won the 2014 World Cup of Pool edging the pair from Netherlands, Niels Feijen and Nick Van den Berg, 10-9 in the final of world pool championship held at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth, England.

With the win, England, a country rich with pool tradition, has finally copped a World Cup title after eight tries in the previous eight years.

The final match featured a lot of errors, especially in the crucial racks, from both sides and it was England which took advantage late.

“I am in shock. The match was really crazy with a lot of mistakes from both teams. We made a silly one in rack two and after that we couldn’t get anything going,” Appleton shared via the tournament’s official website.

The match was on the hill when Feijen and Van den Berg returned to the table after a scratch off the break from Appleton. The Dutch pair couldn’t ran out the rack with an error on the 8-ball to give the table back to the home country bets.

England joins World Cup of Pool winners Philippines (2013, 2009 and 2006), Finland (2012), Germany (2011), China (2010 and 2007) and the United States of America (2008) as champions in the annual pool 9-ball championships.

England was one of the favourites pre-tournament along with the defending champions from the Philippines and the team from Germany. Boyes and Appleton beat Spain, 7-6 in the Round of 32; Greece, 7-1 in the Round of 16; USA, 9-7 in the quarterfinals; and Finland, 9-6 in the semifinals.

Aside from the international prestige and making history for England, Boyes and Appleton went home with $60,000 champion’s purse, a lion’s share from the $250,000 prize pool shared by the 32 countries which participated in the six-day event from Sept. 23 to 28, 2014.

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