Bradman selections starting to wear a bit thin

Cover of book 'Bradman's Best Ashes Teams' by Roland Perry

Bradman's Best Ashes Team by Roland Perry. Published by Random House. Price $NZ59.95.

Even in death the Donald Bradman publishing phenomenon continues, with Roland Perry producing a follow-up volume to last year's release of Bradman's Best, his all-time Test XI, in the shape of Bradman's Best Ashes teams.

The appeal of a book such as this will surely be tested by the market.

It is hard to imagine that the reading world has been waiting with bated breath for such a publication.

The only thing that is new in this format is Bradman's choice. For anyone who bought the volume of Bradman's Best, which has been released in paperback concurrently with this latest offering, there is nothing to be gained from a repeat read of those players who made both of Bradman's selections. And 10 of the players in Bradman's Ashes team did make his all-time selection.

It is a fair bet that every member of the Australian and England Ashes teams that Bradman has named, and Perry has profiled, has had a book written about them at some stage.

There has been little apparent effort by the writer to talk to those players remaining alive to discuss their selection in Bradman's side and because of this the book lacks possible oomph.

A series of chronological profiles, the gist of which could be picked up in most historical books of which there are plenty on Ashes contests, do make for tedious presentation.

This fact is not helped by Perry's over-use of the description best-ever. In fact, at one stage, he surpasses himself in making the comment, "Bradman ranked only Keith Miller ahead of Richie Benaud in choosing an all-rounder for his all-time best-ever Australian Ashes team."

This has to be the triple tautology of the year - 'all-time best-ever'.

There is also a confusing style which appears intermittently in the book, where Perry puts himself in the mind of his subject. Never more obviously than when dealing with Jack Hobbs on the morning of an important match.

"Hobbs was gloomy as he had breakfast with his wife and four children and read his morning paper."

No attribution is given for this state of mind of the great batsman. More comments follow, as they do in other chapters, that suggest a degree of familiarity between the subject and the writer. But where has this information come from? If it is from someone else's book, the subject's own autobiography perhaps, or even as the product of research which unearthed some previously unknown material then the reader is entitled to know.

Perry is mistaken when claiming that the Ashes are the oldest of international sporting trophies.

The America's Cup for one would leave the Ashes 30 years in its wake, a not inappropriate metaphor.

It is interesting also that Bradman found that one of his reasons for not having Victor Trumper in his Australian side was because he had never seen him play.

Yet in the England team there is room for W G Grace and Syd Barnes, neither of whom he saw play either.

Two other points of concern: Vernon Ransford is referred to as Vic Ransford while Perry also claims that Ian Botham, 12th man by Bradman's reckoning in the Ashes XI, took a world record 383 Test wickets.

He took a world record 373 Test wickets before he was overhauled by Richard Hadlee who held the record until it was taken by Kapil Dev. Botham finished his career with 383 Test wickets but he never regained the record.