in the first two matches of the summer, totalling 1/58. At the start of the 1955–56 season, Simpson was hit in the nose by a bouncer, forcing him to have two operations. However, he missed only one Shield match against Victoria and played in the remainder of New South Wales' matches, despite the presence of the Test players for the full season, which was purely domestic. Simpson failed to make the most of his opportunities with the bat; in 11 completed innings, he reached 20 on nine occasions, but failed to convert the starts into big scores. His best scores was 79 and 57, and he was dismissed between 20 and 43 seven times. He ended the season with 406 runs at 36.90, and had little success with the ball, taking two wickets at 97.50 at the expensive economy rate of 5.73. Simpson was overlooked for selection for the 1956 tour of England, much to the surprise of English skipper Peter May. Australia lost its third consecutive Ashes tour and in doing so suffered two successive innings defeats, something that it had not suffered for 68 years. Simpson was under pressure to hold his place in the team, so he moved to Western Australia at the end of the 1955–56 season. At the age of 20, he changed professions from accounting with the Sydney Water Board to journalism, having been given a newspaper editorial post with the Daily News in Perth. During the time, he lived in the house of Fremantle Cricket Club President Bob Ballantine. Early international career After the 1956 Ashes series, captain Ian Johnson and vice-captain Keith Miller both retired, creating more openings in a struggling national team. After a slow start for his adopted state, Simpson hit form in December, registering a sequence of 75, 97, 26, 96 and 112 not out, the latter two scores coming in a match against Queensland. Towards the end of the season, Simpson was selected for Lindwall's XI for a match against Harvey's XI. These matches were typically used as a selection trial for the 22 strongest players in the country. Simpson failed to make significant impact, scoring 35 and 10, and he ended the season with 572 runs at 47.66. He had another ineffective summer with the ball, taking two wickets at 95.50. Simpson was one of many young players—eight of whom were uncapped—selected in an Australian side which