MARK SELBY rose from his sick bed to start the defence of his williamhill.com UK Championship crown – but 15-year-old amateur Shane Castle almost left him feeling rotten.

The youngster led the world number two 3-1 at the mid-session interval of their Barbican battle and Selby had to call on his famous reserves to fight off the youngster and book a last 64 tie with Tian Pengfei today after a 6-4 win.

Describing himself at about 80 per cent after being bed ridden until Friday afternoon feeling “weak and achy”, Selby said: “I am happy to win. In patches I played okay and made some decent breaks but then in other parts I was a little bit average.

“Overall I thought Shane played really well. Before the interval he thoroughly deserved to be 3-1 up – I thought he was the better player – and for his first time on TV, and in that environment, I thought he handled it really well.”

He added: “He looked like he fancied the job and, at 4-4, he was in with a hell of a chance.”