THE city's part in the rise of cricket’s greatest batsman is told in a new book.

Young Bradman by journalist Mark Rowe tells the story of Sir Donald Bradman, the Australian born in 1908 whose first innings in England was at Worcester, with the city featuring on the front cover of the book.

The touring team came by train to Shrub Hill from London, stayed at the Star Hotel, now the Whitehouse, and had a civic dinner at the Guildhall.

On May 1, 1930 Bradman took his overnight 75 not out to 236 and on the next two tours, when the Australians began at Worcester, Bradman made two more double hundreds.

Mr Rowe took the cover picture himself from the cathedral tower while in the city on a weekend break. “I was very pleased with myself for coming up with an original angle, then found that the great cricket photographer Patrick Eagar had taken an identical shot in the 1960s.”

He added: "It's an uncanny story. One of the reporters seeing Bradman's innings in Worcester said that Bradman never looked like getting out. The precise same words were used by a reporter about Bradman's first innings in Sydney, four years before.

"Bradman not only had different playing conditions to handle in Worcester, but was abroad for the first time at the age of 21, when travelling was less comfortable than today."

The paperback, £18, is published by the Association of Cricket Statisticians and is for sale at acscricket.com.