Mark Selby believes he is better equipped to defy the external pressures which afflicted his previous reign as world snooker champion and go on to dominate the sport.

Selby won his fourth Crucible title on Monday night, with his 18-15 victory over Shaun Murphy moving him level with John Higgins on the all-time list of multiple winners.

The 37-year-old’s previous world crown in 2017 hastened a remarkable decline in form which saw him fail to win a British-based ranking event in the subsequent two and a half years.

Selby’s brand of tough, no-nonsense snooker had made him seem a virtual certainty to climb the list of multiple winners at the famous venue.

And inevitably, the manner of his resurgence has raised the prospect of him chasing the likes of six-time winners Steve Davis and Ronnie O’Sullivan, and even Stephen Hendry on a record seven.

“To win three was unbelievable, and to now equal somebody like John Higgins, who is one of the all-time greats, is beyond my wildest dreams,” added Selby.

“If you’d said to me when I was a young lad starting out that I’d be 37 years old with four world titles, I’d probably have laughed at you.

“But I’m not getting any younger and I’ve still got a long way to go to catch Stephen. You look at how good Ronnie is and he is still one behind, but I’m still in there with a chance.”