The confected format has generated very few moments and developed no male players but has given women cricketers income
W
ho’s your favourite influencer? For me it’s Ashton Hall, an inspiring and cheerful man on YouTube whose fame has been brief, beautiful and as fragile as a butterfly lifespan. But who was for a period earlier this year the greatest influencer on the planet, propelled to that status by a video showing his “extreme morning routine”.
The routine is amazing. It starts at 3.52am. The standard kick-off time for The Grind used to be 5am. Sod that. Ashton Hall gets up at 3.52. Ashton Hall gets up the day before to prepare for his getting up.
In the video, fast-cut and excitingly soundtracked, he showcases a rigidly structured roster of wellness acts. He journals. He press-ups. He sprints. He prays. He moisturises with banana peel. Sombrely, tenderly, he dunks his face in iced mineral water. He leaps into a pool and lurks for ages, being well. We don’t get to see him vaping and having a shit. But if we did it would be slick, snappy, moving, cinematic and soundtracked by clunk, fizz, snap fzzt, pft, shtm.
