FORMER Oxfordshire postman Kevin Tunstall delivered the game's greatest prize when he was crowned world champion in Jersey.

The 49-year-old former Wallingford League secretary, who moved to Lancing in Sussex in February, avenged his defeat by Brighton's Jim Millward in the 2001 final with victory at Hotel Ommaroo, Havre des Pas.

Tunstall, who used to live in Abingdon, trailed 8,830-2,240 after the first leg.

And he feared the worst when he broke down with a break of around 2,000 in the second leg as his opponent rattled up 3,000 only to knock over a peg and lose his score.

"I thought I was dead and buried," said Tunstall. "If he had kept them it would have left me 7,000 down and I am not certain I would have had time to catch him."

But he seized his chance to play the table out and take the second leg 11,710-0 and triumph 13,950-8,830 on aggregate.

"It means a lot to any of us in the bar billiards world," added Tunstall. "It is not a professional sport, so we don't make money like snooker and pool players, but it is nice to be world champ- ion."

More than 200 players entered the championships, and Tunstall beat Didcot Conservative Club's Phil Collins in the semi-final, while Millward ended the hopes of Keith Sheard (Nelson, Oxford).

It was Tunstall's third success in the equivalent competition, having won the event in 1993 and 1994 when it was known as the British Isles Open.

But he struck a nerve with him that he had never had the title of world champion.

"It just niggled a bit that I thought I have got to win it to become the world champion, but deep down I always thought I had been, but not in name," he added.

There was also a local success in the Plate Competition which went to Wallingford's Mark Turner, who beat Jersey's Tim Ringsdore 2-0 in the final.