The only player to have made 12 centuries at the Crucible but never won a match there is the subject of the new episode of the WST Podcast.

Rookie of the Year in 2014, John Astley went on to reach a ranking event quarter-final in 2016 and knocked Neil Robertson out of the UK Championship in 2021.

He also achieved fame beyond snooker in 2016 when he performed in The Nap, a play with a snooker theme which ran for three weeks at the Crucible. In one scene he had to attempt a century break, and in another he contested the last few balls of the World Championship final.

Astley speaks to Michael McMullan about that experience, and reveals his ambitions on snooker’s real stage.