toured New Zealand under Ian Craig in 1956–57. Australia was in a rebuilding phase and Test selection was at stake. He scored 263 runs at 43.83 in the first-class matches, including two half-centuries. Simpson played in all three matches against New Zealand, and scored 47, 67, 26 not out, a duck and 8 not out. His 67 was the top-score in the first innings of the second representative match. In the following season, Simpson was selected for the Test tour of South Africa in 1957–58. Ian Chappell suggests that Simpson was included "mainly for his catching." The young Australian team was derided as the worst to leave Australian shores. In the tour matches leading up to the Tests, Simpson performed consistently. He scored 103 against Transvaal and 53 not out against Eastern Province, and totaled 304 runs at 60.66 in seven matches ahead of the Tests. Although his form during the Tests was poor, Simpson added 150 against Griqualand West and scored 671 runs at 47.92. This earned Simpson his debut against South Africa in the First Test at Johannesburg. He compiled 60 in the first innings before being trapped leg before wicket by Hugh Tayfield. He took three catches and scored 23 not out in the second innings. He struggled in the remaining four Tests, with only 53 more runs in the remaining five innings to end with 136 runs at 22.67 in the Tests. His catching form was exceptional, yielding 13 catches in the five Tests and playing a factor in his retention in the team. In all Simpson took 26 catches in 16 matches. He took two wickets at 64.50 in the first-class matches, and managed 6/61 in a non-first-class match against the South African Country Districts. Unsatisfied with these performances, he sought the advice of vice-captain Neil Harvey, who advised him that he was playing too square on while defending on the back foot. After his unconvincing performances with the bat in the South African Tests, Simpson needed runs at the start of the 1958–59 season to retain his position in the national team for the Ashes series against England. His first two matches of the season were for Western Australia and a Western Australia Combined XI against the Englishmen, and he scored 60 and 17. In three further Shield matches, he continued his habit of not converting starts into larger scores, registering scores of between