31 and 67 in all six innings with three half-centuries. Up to this point, he had scored 364 runs at 52.00, and Simpson was selected for the Australian XI match against May's Englishmen, effectively a dress rehearsal for the Tests. He failed in both innings with two and a duck, and the hosts were crushed by 345 runs. Simpson was overlooked for selection for the First Test at Brisbane against England. Norm O'Neill, who had scored 1,003 runs at 83.75 in the previous season, while Simpson was in South Africa, took his middle-order position. Peter Burge failed in the First Test, resulting in Simpson's recall for the Second Test at Melbourne. Simpson made a duck in his only innings as Australia won by eight wickets and was subsequently omitted for the remainder of the series. At the time, Australia had three all rounders who were capable with the bat:Ken Mackay, Richie Benaud and Alan Davidson. This meant that Australia needed only five specialist batsmen and in the Fifth Test of the series, only four were used in order to accommodate an extra bowler. Simpson was facing heavy competition for a Test position. Simpson scored 91 runs in four innings in the remainder of the season, which was not enough for him to force his way back into the Test team. It was another sparse summer with the ball for Simpson, who took two wickets at 41.50. In the Southern Hemisphere winter in 1959, Simpson played a season in the Lancashire League in England as Accrington's professional player, receiving a 950-pound contract. He scored 1,444 runs at 103.14, returning a better statistical analysis than Gary Sobers, and took 47 wickets at 20.82. Simpson's top-score of 122 not out came against Ramsbottom and added another triple-figure score against Bacup, and his season included 11 consecutive fifties including a century, seven of which were unbeaten. In all, he scored two centuries and 14 fifties in 26 innings. He took five-wicket hauls three times with a best of 6/40 against Nelson. Despite this, Simpson was not selected for the squad for the series against India and Pakistan on the 1959–60 tour of the Indian subcontinent. He started the season with a campaign with a Commonwealth XI in South Africa. In three matches, Simpson continued to suffer problems in converting his starts into large scores. He made 204 runs at 40.80; all his scores were