"Root century, but it's honours even after Day 1 at Edgbaston"

Here in Part 4 of my readings from my self published book entitled "The Spirit of Cricket", I wax lyrical on The Ashes finally being underway and after the first day of a series for the ages, it's honours even. Here follows a brief extract from an elongated chapter, the 8th of 41 in total, and a link to the paperback book itself:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF4FRKSH

"It’s been a strange 24 hours or so in this game we call life for your favourite cricket correspondent. Since my last journal entry I’ve walked far too far on a singular walk along the canals of central England, watched a befuddling film that I’m either going to retrospectively love but fear I’ll continue to hate and The Ashes, after all the fanfare and English pomp and ceremony, is finally underway. With the teams split by 379 runs after the first day’s play you could argue England have tipped the early balance in their favour and with the runs on the scoreboard, that argument would have some merit. I’m falling squarely in the honours even category as Australia are the greatest Test Match playing team in the world, they have all 10 1st innings wickets still in hand overnight and they’ve already dealt with England’s first “dig” with the bat and restricted them to less than 400 on 1st innings.

A brilliant day’s Ashes cricket. Honours even.

But before we return to the beginning of the day’s play we must go back to the future of the past 24 hours and my first 10+ mile canal walk of the Summer, a film that unnerved me, and the reason why we’re all here in the first place.

Last Summer’s canal walks were peppered with double digit miles walked in a day with my infamous hitch hiking aboard a canal boat to Llangollen not included in the 16 mile round trip that I don’t think my feet have forgiven me for yet. Much like now as I hobble around with all the agility of the tin man from the Wizard of the Oz in desperate need of an oil change. Stourton was beautiful, and so was Bratch Locks, but I’ve visited these places on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal many times before so I knew what to expect. I just wasn’t expecting, or was match fit for, the miles in between and a canal walk I hadn’t undertaken until yesterday and today, my calves and lower legs resemble two stiff pieces of willow ready to crash cricket balls to all parts of any cricket ground you care to name.

The film I allude to above is entitled “Beau is Afraid” (directed by Ari Aster) and in the masterful hands of marquee star Joaquin Phoenix there’s an incredibly intriguing film wrapped around a nightmarish horror which leans on religion, a mother’s love, death, regret, guilt and is yet an absurdist, surreal odyssey of the path of time and life that immediately invokes the twisted horror of Darren Aronofsky’s “Mother!” from 2017 or Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Punch Drunk Love” from 2002. I found it insufferable, nerve shredding and I missed every piece of supposed comedy in the film as all I could think of writing in my trusty notebook was a sub-title for my review of the film, namely:

“A 3 hour panic attack with Joaquin Phoenix”

You think they’ll put this brief and pithy review on the movie posters?
Anyway, The Ashes is underway, the first day has ended with honours relatively even, and here are the day’s three sessions of play......."

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