Book review: Ashes To Dust - The Nightmare Before Christmas (Graham Cookson)

It's a compelling tale. The once-mighty England welcome world-beaters Australia into their three-lioned lair and seize the 2005 Ashes. It's no wonder that a sizeable number of people decided to save their pennies for the return trip Down Under less than 18 months later.

Graham Cookson was one of these individuals. Ashes To Dust - The Nightmare Before Christmas is his diary of his winter following the tourists as they were ignominiously whitewashed. It's a simple conceit, and full marks to Cookson for taking it on.

I'm loath to be too critical, as I have no doubt that in his other life as voice of the fans in the broadcast media, Cookson is highly entertaining in his soundbite-sized slots - he strings a sentence together in forthright style and in true Northern fashion he speaks as he finds.

Yet this doesn't necessarily translate well on to the page. Strange though it may sound to some, there really are only so many times you can read the same Aussie-bashing taunts without it seeming very, very dull indeed; likewise laddish tales of alcohol consumption and hilarity ensuing. The prose detailing the games sits uneasily with the narration of the extra-curricular activities, and I wonder if better editing to make the storyline clearer would have helped.

It's a shame, because this kind of diary is truly once-in-a-lifetime stuff. The anecdote about meeting up with David Lloyd, for instance, is fascinating, and Cookson's admiration of the legend that is Bumble is obvious.  If you went to Australia on this Ashes tour, you'll be intrigued. If you stayed at home and watched it on the television or followed it with Test Match Special, then this book will excite mild curiosity - but it's highly probable it won't tell you anything you don't already know about matters on the pitch. [Carrie Dunn] [Image: Getty]