A large crowd flooded the venue to watch the final, which lasted more than three hours, and finished just as the clock ticked past the midnight mark. Prachuab Khiri Khan Governor Prasong Pitoonkijja handed over the glittering trophy to the winner.

Neither Pettman nor Ratchapol, now in the 33rd spot in the world professional rankings, had entered the match as an outright favourite.

Ratchapol first had a lucky fluke on the last blue, and then could not help suppress a grin as he followed up with another one on the pink, that paved the way for him to win the opening frame on the black.

However, Pettman bounced back to level scores. Ratchapol went one up again, but the joy proved ephemeral on this occasion as well, as Pettman knocked home an absorbing break of 97 points in the fourth to again level frame scores.

This time it was Pettman's turn to take the lead and though Ratchapol fought back in the sixth frame to make it 3-3, the cueist from Preston had little trouble in taking the seventh. He finished off the contest 5-3 in the eighth frame after Ratchapol squandered a number of chances.

A beaming Pettman said later: "I am happy with the way I played in the tournament. I wasn't great today, but I definitely played better snooker in the final. James [Ratchapol] missed a number of easy pots and that helped as well.

"I am glad to have won this tournament. It is a great feeling. My last victory in a tournament was so long ago that I have no recollection of it at all or when exactly it was.

"I enjoyed being here and it turned out to be a great tournament for me. I hope to be back here again next year to defend my title."

The next ranking tournament of the 2007 Thailand Ranking Circuit will take place at the Khum Suphan Hotel in Suphan Buri from May 21-26. The three foreign wildcard players invited to take part in the event are talented Chinese professional Liu Song, Manan Chandra of India - who won the third place at the 2006 world amateur championship - and Hong Kong's Fung Kwok Wai, a quarter-finalist at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

Final: Stuart Pettman (England) beat Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm 5-3; frame scores: (62-69, 63-49, 10-62, 97(97)-0, 79-16, 48-83, 56-12, 53-45).