30/11/2013 UK Snooker Championship Highlights

How low, here in York we are involved in a pre-Christmas on site.

It is the UK Championships. We have a new format in York, instead of

bringing 32 players, 128 turned up on Tuesday. The top pros and returns

amongst them. They were all bidding for this big prize. This new format

means there is no favourite for the top names and it has led to

surprises along the way. It is a brand new format for the event, new

and exciting times for snooker. How will be defending champion, Mark

Selby, keep up with it all? will be defending champion, Mark

Selby, keep up with it He is playing the 15 -year-old, Shane Castle, full

of confidence. Selby has been struggling all week with the flu set

on a rush for the break. We will prick them up in frame 2. It is best

of 11. We are intrigued to see how this youngster will fare against the

world number 2. Writing the middle of the pocket. What a great chance

to take this 2nd frame. In an ideal world, he still has this

red in the corner. He has 4 rates in the middle of the table and needs to

put them into play. -- raids. -- reds. He would have liked to have

been straighter on this black. He is going to need to use a Canon to stop

the white from running away up the table. If he drops it, he will have

a difficult time. Maybe that was to read -- 2 reds. Shane Castle, you

can't do that, he touched the red with his calf in position. -- cuff.

Just a bit of nerves, the revelry was on him. He didn't get on the

black as he intended. That is a body blow if he was to lose this frame.

It is a shame, he could have taken that but he didn't think he could

pop out. -- pot that. We could clearly see that the cough of his

jacket -- cuff hit the red. He is 40 points in front coming to the table.

An easy read. -- red. That is the important thing, if you

win a frame, you forget that you had careless mistakes. He should win the

frame from here. 2 reds and 2 colours.

A quick glance at the scoreboard will confirm that he only needs this

red. The blue will make sure of this. Having said that, Mark Selby

would carry on for 3 or 4 Mac snookers. He is the best in the

business for doing that. That will do. Michael -- mark will be staying

in his seat now. The 2nd frame. Left-handed, he switched hands and

he looks good. That was pretty impressive. He hit its really well,

didn't he? It doesn't matter about that. Shane

Castle, 29. The kick up could have cost him but it didn't. Very

impressive from this young man. He levels the score. The teenager had

the audacity to take a 2-1 lead. We already had 1 major surprise in this

competition, the world number 6 was beaten by Mitchell Travis, an

amateur. Shane Castle would love to follow suit. In 2 frame 4, Castle 3

points adrift. He is just about okay. He has won

red to play for. It is decision time. Maybe he was looking to see

whether he could play for the loose red and possibly play for the Brown.

It is not an option now. He is not far enough or straight enough for

the red. He is thinking about the pink, he won't be playing for the

pink. He would have to be absolute pinpoint position to play for the

pink. He has played for the pink. Amazing, he has been playing

left-handed. It comes to the important shot and he uses the rest.

But he will be happy with it. The red above the black and is left of

this the Brown is available. What a chance this is. He looks very good

right-handed and is left-handed, and looks pretty good with the rest.

A little bit of a test here. Automatically finish on a bread. --

red. He is cool as a cucumber. He has to force this 1 a little bit

because he is slightly straighter than he wanted. It is okay, he has

the 1 to the middle. He is still in prime position.

Not quite the right side of the blue but he is up to 92% with his pot

rate success. He just has to lead himself a medium

that links pot. I suppose he could have risked going round the angles

but he is a confident potter Mac. He looks very comfortable out there,

it has to be said. A big shot. That was a frame ball. He has missed it.

It was the previous shot 20 got straight on the black. He knows what

the Selby is capable of. This is the kind of situation he relishes. Don't

be surprised if he doesn't dish up here. There is not a safe all on the

table. -- ball. It should have been 3-1 to the young player.

In an ideal world, Mark Selby would like to get the Brown. It would be

risky to play for it. 23 points behind so people need a red. -- he

will need. He has played for the Brown. This is the key for the

screw. They are there for the taking.

What 8 which she won that was. -- twitchy one. A reprieve for young

Shane. He will enjoy the midsection. It doesn't matter too

much about that, it it should be enough. Certainly not going to

prescription for the defending champion. Shane Castle, who has won

a clutch of age-group titles, he says he wants to turn pro at 16, he

has showed tremendous composure. says he wants to turn pro at 16, he

has Will be interviewed -- interval disrupt his momentum? Let's join him

in the 5th. He is taking it on again. If he has got away with this

he is very fortunate. He had no guarantee of getting on a colour

they are but he is an attacking young player. Has he got away with

it? He thought he would find the gap with the cue ball. If he knocks this

in and gets on the black or the blue, look at the way they are

sitting. He thought he had got away with it. He didn't. What a chance

for Mark Selby. He will see the warning signs, he needs to make the

most of the opportunity. Just a delicate Canon here on the

red. -- cannon. He is not perfect here. He has to

cut back to the right corner that it should be a little easier than this.

He could control the cue ball which he has done nicely. He shouldn't

have any problem you would have thought. Coming up the right-hand

side of the corner, a deep screw. Now back at the business end.

He is still okay. Already 44 points in the lead so it is a risky red.

You can't blame him for taking his shots. Just running out of position

means that he is not straightforward on the blue. There are a few Reds

available into the left corner there. A good start for the

defending champion after the interval.

As you said, this is an important frame as he dropped 4 behind in the

start. He had a chance in the opening frame

of a century. Another possible chance here if he can block this in.

A screw back to avoid the middle pocket. Just.

The 1st day for the TV cameras but we have had 39 centuries so far.

Demonstrating his cue power, he needs to slow up a little bit. Well

the black didn't go in, but that was a good 1. That early play cost Shane

Castle the play but Mark Selby is still behind. The Game hit the glue

that after. He regained the lead at 4-3, only at Castle to level at 4

frames a piece. He missed it by some way. It was the

right shot. Just because you don't pot it,

doesn't make it the wrong 1. It must be pretty warm in that arena. I

mentioned earlier that Mark Selby was hot. Even the 15 year old is

feeling the heat. The chance is there now for Mark Selby. He will

get the much better placed than this. He will have to do something

callous to run out of position here. So far, so good, still 4 comfortable

reds available. Little cannon, possibly on that

read, just below the peak. This is an excellent opportunity. 37 points

in front. Three raids in the middle of the table, that would just about

be enough. -- reds. He will be taking the pink this

time. If he wants to take two blacks with these red in the middle of the

table, it would put him in front, with 59 remaining. It's important.

He is working out how he can get across to the snookers required

stage. He can do that with two reds and two blacks.

He has not gone far enough so he will need one of those slightly

awkward reds. You would have thought he would have worked about

previously. He knows he will need reds one of those four reds to

secure that frame. It just depends on the angle on the

pink as to whether he can screw back for the red there.

Has he covered that one is that he's cannoned out? I think so. This one,

to the left corner. Not quite safe just yet. No. 59 points to lead. 59

remaining. Good shot! Fully committed! That was the frame on.

Well played. He played a poor safety shot. Shane has the chance of a long

pots. -- pot. The way he will play it is to go for those types of shots

that he could not knock it in. It's not their bite 67 points to lead. 51

remaining. That's enough for shame. He concedes. The reigning champion

is just one frame away from victory. Mark Selby crossed the line

thereafter. This was the foundation for his victory. No comeback from

Shane Castle this time. He is finishing things up here. He has

shown enough in this match to suggest that he has the talent to

make his presence felt. The defending champion was made to work

for his first victory in York. He has struggled all week but it looks

the key is coming back to form. He is through to the next round. Shane

played really well. It is the first time I saw him play but I have heard

of him. Everyone speaks highly of him. He proved his talent today. He

handled the occasion well. Being out there for the first time. He put me

under pressure. Disappointed I didn't win. You can never writes

Mark off. I was happy that I played well and I did well against him.

That's all you can do. Overall, my performance was strange. I played

some good frames and I had a central break but in other parts, I was

missing a lot of balls which I shouldn't have. Overall, I am happy

to win. I'm sure he is. You get the feeling we have not heard the last

of Shane Castle. That was the number of -- one of the number of David and

Goliath match-ups. Here was another. The rocket was up against Rhys

Clarke, an amateur. He watched as the five-time champion was quickly

into his stride, taking the opener with a 48 break. Rees, who narrowly

missed out on a placement to this year, showed flashes of his ability.

From there on, the rocket was in control. 71-0 scoreline in frame

three. Frame five went Ronnie's way. The whitewash was completed in

the sixth. Ronnie went all out for a maximum. He is comfortable it

through. I have been playing decent stuff. No disrespected the early

opponents. You can only judge when you come against a top 16 player,

playing regular matches on the circuit. Then you get a truer test.

Ding Junhui went against Anthony Parsons. He was far from happy,

despite racing to a 3- zero lead. Parsons, ranked 125, took the next

two frames with solid play. Ding sprung into action and went on to

claim the victory. More like a practice game. I did not play well

myself. I lost concentration. I did not play every shot stronger, that

is not good. A mix of first and second round matches today. Peter

Ebdon was shunted aside by David Morris, ranked 93 in the world.

Shaun Murphy had to show his class and character to come back from 3-0

two beats 43 -year-old 's Paul Davidson. Murphy marches on. 3- zero

behind. I thought, here we go again. Another day when I am playing well

but not really getting a chance. The first time I got a good chances in

the fourth frame, which I took. After the interval, I was saved by

the interval, I managed to string a few together and started to play

nicely. And for more second round results.

Ali Carter has been battling health issues since the summer. Great to

see him in competitive mode here. Ali Carter will now face Graeme

Dott. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We

have at one or 1st-round match to round for you. It is the last of 64

1st-round matches. It features the man at the top of the pile, the

world number one, Neil Robertson of Australia. He would really love to

win the championship to complete his hat-trick of the main titles. He

found himself against another amateur player. This time, it was

Dylan Mitchell from Bradford. His dad, sister and brother were in the

auditorium. His mum was too nervous to watch him. He has ambitions to

turn professional. What an opportunity tonight.

Very dangerous shot. Not sure how he could have got that say. Just

deadweight. Hit it far too hard. Just checking whether the red above

the black will pass into the corner. If it does, he has a nice angle on

the blue. That is very tight. Look at that. Certainly, The Reds does

not pot. The black, only. Maybe just one red, in the middle of those

three near the pink. You can see, it just us. -- just does.

We know that the black pots, but does he have an angle on the black?

We know the red does not pot. He managed to get something on that

red and move it away for that was a decent shot. It looked dead straight

on the black but he managed to flick it up the table, that red. He is

away now. The last couple of screw shots, he

has just slightly underhit. He was able to hold it for the black.

Commentated on Ding playing this afternoon and he struggled on the

table. He usually has immaculate cueball control but it was all over

the place. Neal, once or twice, looks to have missed judge the pace

of his shot, as well. Niall looks very good when he gets

in there around the blackspot area. He has a chance of beating the

record. For centuries. Indeed. You get the first frame unto wealth, and

then you work from there. This is frameable.

Talking about all the century break said Neil Robertson has been

making, earlier, he made one of those in each frame.

He looks like a really polished performer nowadays. Absolutely. I

feel sorry for young to. He has hardly put a foot wrong. He played

at one bad safety shot and he's 3-0 behind. Absolutely right. Sometimes

people say that about a player, that he has not done wrong at all but it

is actually the case here. That is another century. Number 51 of the

season. He will smash the previous record of 61 set by Judd Trump. We

have a lot of snooker to be played over the next few months. Leading up

to the start of May. Break of 107. He marches on and that leads.

Robertson is well on course for Judd Trump's record of 61 centuries. No

complaints from the Aussie, as he has completed a professional might

against Dylan Mitchell. A learning experience for the youngster. 6-0

the scoreline. Neil Robertson looked very good indeed. I have never seen

Dylan play before so you never know what to expect. It was a packed

crowd and the arena is set up pretty well so, I did my job. If there are

any opportunities to make 147, I was going to have a crack but none came

my way. Overall, I am happy with the 6-0. I would have been disappointed

if I lost or if Dylan had won a scrappy frame. I have done my job

to. He certainly did. It's a brave new world for this event. Everywhere

you look, there are tables. We have four ER in the sports hall. They

will be in use tomorrow. We have four more in the main arena. It

certainly exciting. It certainly unpredictable in terms of some of

the scoreline. Perhaps, with some of the top boys, some predictable

scoreline. We have had some white washers. Now, how will Jerry White

fair? In for the first time in three years he will be back our screens in

action on a match table. He has done so by securing his place against

Stuart Bingham, the world number ten. We are looking forward to

seeing him in action. What an afternoon of entertainment. Another

former champion, Judd Trump, will be against a man who was at the

Crucible this year. We will kick off with the live stuff again at 1:30pm

tomorrow. Catch you then as a judge and Jimmy takes centre stage once

more. -- Judd.