Hot-shot Higgins closes in on title

The 40-1 outsider from Leicester reached the biggest match of his career with a 17-16 comeback victory to topple 2005 Sheffield champion Shaun Murphy.

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But while 1998 world champion Higgins may have given up drinking, he conjured up some champagne snooker to surge 12-4 ahead and needs only six frames today to secure his second Crucible crown.

It is the biggest overnight lead in a Sheffield final since Jimmy White trailed by the same score to Stephen Hendry in 1993.

Selby rattled Higgins by taking an early 3-2 lead - then had to sit and watch the 31-year-old Scot hammer him with seven successive frames.

Selby's 116 to edge in front proved to be false dawn as Higgins responded with a flurry of big breaks, including a magnificent 100 to lead 8-3.

Higgins looked a world away from the player Selby dumped 10-4 in the first round 12 months ago, and showed why he has regained the world No 1 spot from Hendry for next season.

But Selby's great adventure will land a guaranteed £110,000 pay-day, easily the best of his career for a player with no car and a rented flat, and welcome reward for an officially sanctioned 'mis-spent youth'.

If he does beat the odds to become only the third qualifier to land the world crown, he will thank the understanding headmaster who excused him from lessons to perfect his snooker.

Selby, who will be world No 11 next season, said: "I used to practise with my PE teacher John Warner every Thursday and he put in a word with the headmaster for me. I had a deal where I could get off a bit early and go down to the snooker hall and practise at Willie Thorne's snooker centre, where I was at the time.

"Then it got to the stage when I was 15 where rather than going to school, I was doing my work at home and my teachers were dropping round to check up that I was doing it.

"The headmaster realised I was a good player, he just needed some prompting from John. I realised the risk - if I hadn't made it in snooker, I'd have no qualifications. Hopefully, he is seeing it has paid off."

Selby, who takes the train to practise against such pals as Murphy, admitted: "It can take hours. I've not thought about a car yet. I'll have to take lessons and get a licence first. I'll probably get my own place."

Murphy, stunned by Selby's semi-final comeback to snatch the last three frames, claimed he was unsettled by his opponent's more boisterous fans shouting as the tension increased.

He said: "It affected me when they were calling out for a miss or a bad kiss. It's not the way to behave."

A World Snooker spokesman said: "The excitement of the fans is part of the Crucible atmosphere, but warnings can be given and, as a last resort, spectators can be ejected."

Referee Eirian Williams had to call for order in the opening frame - but only to ask for the fans' jokes to stop as he focused on replacing the balls when Selby put Higgins back in after a miss.