Early career Astley first came into prominence in 2007 by winning the national Under-19 title (defeating
Michael Georgiou in the final), however wins in the amateur
PIOS tournaments proved hard to come by. His attempts to qualify for the main tour via
Q School in 2011 and 2012 were unsuccessful as well. Nevertheless, Astley gained enough sponsorship to be able to enter all the
PTC events in the
2012–13 season as an amateur. He reached the last 32 stage three times and finished fourth highest ranked amateur on the Order of Merit, winning a tour card for
2013–14 and
2014–15 seasons.
2013/2014 Astley won his opening match of the season 5–2 against
Mike Dunn to reach the main draw of the
Wuxi Classic. In his first appearance in a ranking event Astley was whitewashed 5–0 by
Robert Milkins. He won a match in a ranking event for the first time by edging out
Ken Doherty 6–5 in the
UK Championship, a performance he described afterwards as the best of his career. He lost 6–1 against
Stuart Carrington in the next round. Astley also qualified for the
China Open with a 5–2 success over
Robbie Williams and then came through a wildcard round match once in China, before losing 5–1 to
Ding Junhui. Astley beat
Sam Baird 10–9 in the first round of
World Championship qualifying, but his season ended in his next match with a heavy 10–2 loss to
Jamie Cope. Astley was awarded the Rookie of the Year Award at the World Snooker Annual Award Ceremony.
2014/2015 Astley's
2014–15 season proved to be disappointing as he could not qualify for any ranking event, other than the
UK Championship and
Welsh Open for which he gained automatic entry. He lost in the first round of the UK 6–2 to
Jamie Cope and beat
David Gilbert 4–1 at the Welsh, before
Gary Wilson knocked him out 4–3 in the second round. Astley played in all six of the minor-ranking
European Tour events but could not win a match in any of them. After losing his first qualifying match for the
World Championship to
Dominic Dale, Astley was relegated from the tour as he was ranked 86th in the world.
2016/2017 Astley entered the
2016 Q School and in the second event he beat
Peter Lines 4–0 to secure a two-year tour card. At the
2016 Riga Masters, Astley beat
Joe Perry 4–1,
Andy Hicks 4–2 and
Jimmy Robertson 4–1 to play in the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in his career, where he lost 4–1 to
Mark Williams. He also reached the third round of the
Indian Open and
Paul Hunter Classic and was defeated 4–2 by
Nigel Bond and 4–1 by Zack Richardson. Astley qualified for the
International Championship by overcoming
Peter Ebdon 6–3 and then saw off
Mark King 6–4 once in China, before losing 6–2 to
Mark Selby. He recovered to win 5–4 from 4–0 down against
Kyren Wilson to qualify for the
German Masters, where he was edged out 5–4 by
Ricky Walden in the opening round. Astley progressed through to the fourth round of the
Gibraltar Open by 4–1 victories over Andreas Ploner, George Pragnall and
Ben Woollaston and was eliminated 4–2 by
Ryan Day. ==Outside snooker==