Mark Gray from Bourne Snooker Centre is victorious at the CueBall Promotions Grand Finals

Baize ace Mark Gray admitted he was surprised by his own success at the CueBall Promotions Grand Finals over the weekend.

The Bourne Snooker Centre professional took top spot despite limited outings in the nine-ball pool competitions since an operation earlier this year.

Gray battled back from 3-4 down to win 7-5 in a high standard final against Leicester's Ashik Nathwani and return home with the £335 first prize.

He said: "It was only my third nine-ball competition since surgery.

"My bridge hand is still far from good for playing on the bigger table cue sports following my operation so it was a big surprise to get the win in all honesty."

The event at Rack & Roll in Leicester was for the top 24 players in the rankings so far this year.

Despite only playing in two earlier events after being sidelined for four months, Gray's overall win and a semi-final spot in those tournaments ensured his qualification.

The competition was played in four groups of six with the top two from each group qualifying for a final eight straight knock-out.

Gray won all his five group games to qualify in top spot, including a 5-3 success against number one seed Benji Buckley from Sheffield.

He also defeated Kev Simpson (Derby) 5-2, Anthony Bevan (Solihull) 5-1, Rob Callaghan (Leicester) 5-0 and Tazz Ali (Darlaston) 5-1.

Gray was a 7-1 winner against Brigg's Adam Lewis in the quarter-final before again beating Buckley in the last four after a 7-3 success ahead of his win over Nathwani in the final.

He had completed the eight-ball Ultimate Pool Challenger Tour a fortnight ago at Blackpool by securing places in the last 16 and quarter-finals from 288 entries.

His final competition of the year will be a snooker tournament at Peterborough this weekend where his appearance will guarantee Gray top spot despite his injury fears.

He added: "My hand is no good at playing snooker at the moment.

“Eight-ball pool is the best game for me currently because of the smaller table and thinner cue.

"I have a meeting with the surgeon next week to decide if I need more surgery or to just stay as I am but that will unfortunately mean I have to just quit playing snooker."

Gray would like to thank his sponsors Ayliff's Garage (Bourne), Bourne Snooker Centre and TAOM Billiards.