of the series. Johnston led the wicket takers list, with 22 at 19.18, as Australia took a 4–1 series triumph. Johnston had saved his best performances for the Tests; he managed only 19 wickets at 40.37 in eight matches for Victoria during the season, and never took more than two wickets in an innings. He was particularly unsuccessful against New South Wales, taking a total of 3/190 in two matches. Overall, he took 41 wickets at 29.00 for the season. 1951–52 season The 1951–52 home series was the first tour by the West Indies for two decades, and Johnston again led the wicket takers with 23 at 22.08, as Australia won the series 4–1. Johnston started the series steadily with match figures of 3/90 in the First Test, removing vice-captain Jeff Stollmeyer and leading batsmen Frank Worrell and Everton Weekes as Australia scraped home by three wickets. He then took 3/80 and 2/61 and scored 28 in the Second Test, which Australia won by seven wickets. The Tests were interrupted by two consecutive matches between Victoria and New South Wales. In the first match, Johnston took 6/159 in the only innings of a high-scoring draw, including four Test batsmen. In the following match, he scored 32 before taking career best innings figures of 7/114. He removed Barnes, Morris, Moroney and Miller, before returning to dismiss future Test teammates Richie Benaud and Alan Davidson. Nevertheless, New South Wales took a 159-run lead, and after Victoria replied with 416, Johnston struck three times with the new ball, removing Barnes, Morris and Burke. He ended with 3/33 as New South Wales hung on for a draw at 7/166. Johnston's best match performance came in the only loss in the Third Test at Adelaide. This happened when captain Lindsay Hassett was a late withdrawal due to injury, leaving Australia with an unbalanced team with only four specialist batsmen who could not consolidate the work done by the five specialist bowlers. It was in this match that Johnston passed 100 Test wickets, the fastest player to do so. Exploiting a wet patch at the striker's end, Johnston took 6/62 in the first innings as 22 wickets fell on the first day in treacherous batting conditions; however he was unable to stop an Australian defeat, taking only 1/50 in the second innings as the tourists reached their target of 233 with six wickets in hand. At