New South Wales were the strongest state at the time with many Test players and won the first of nine consecutive Sheffield Shield titles, and Simpson found it difficult to break into the team at full strength. He played two matches at the start of the season, and two more at the end of the summer; New South Wales won all of these fixtures except the first, which was drawn. Simpson had few opportunities with the bat because of the strong batting line-up; he was only required to bat six times and his two highest innings of 58 and 42 were ended when New South Wales reached their target, leaving him unbeaten. He ended with 147 runs at 36.75, and had more success with the ball, taking 14 wickets at 27.85. Simpson's bowling was prominent in the last two matches; he took 5/37 in the second innings against Western Australia, bowling four of his victims, and then took 4/38 and 2/83 against South Australia as New South Wales won both matches. The following season in 1954–55, Simpson had more chances in the New South Wales middle order as the Test players were often playing for Australia against the touring English cricket team. However, he failed to make the use of this, scoring only 123 runs in the first seven innings and was in and out of the team. He then struck form against Victoria, scoring 104 of New South Wales' 234. This was pivotal in a low-scoring match as Victoria made only 86 and 158 and helped New South Wales to a nine-wicket win. Simpson's final match of the season was against the Englishmen. He made six in the first innings as both teams made 172. In the second innings, Simpson reached 98, when light drizzle began to fall and English captain Len Hutton decided to engage in mind games by ordering his men to leave the ground even though the umpires had not adjourned the match. When the visitors returned to the field, Simpson feared another rain delay would stop him reaching his century, so he charged English spinner Johnny Wardle and was stumped. Nevertheless, he helped his state to inflict a rare defeat on Hutton's men; they had won the Tests convincingly 3–1 and had otherwise not been beaten on the tour. The end-of-season run-scoring pushed Simpson's tally for the season to 331 at 33.10; he bowled only