out for 69, two other batsmen followed quickly and the match was lost by 10 wickets. Ten of the 11 England team reconvened at Lord's the next day for the annual Gentlemen v Players match, often an indication of who was in the running for the Test team, and Parkhouse's 81 in the second innings almost won the match for the Players. But when the team for the fourth Test at The Oval was announced, eight of the 11, including Parkhouse, had gone, though in his case, Wisden reported, it was because he had "a bad cold". He missed 10 days of county cricket. In all cricket in the 1950 season, he made 1997 runs at an average of 45.38. Parkhouse was then chosen for the 1950-51 Ashes series in Australia (and tour of New Zealand) under the captaincy of Freddie Brown. He was not a success. Wisden reported: "For all the polish of some of his off-side play, Parkhouse did not impress against fast bowlers and he was susceptible to the short bouncer. He shared an all-too-common fault of not putting his body right behind the ball when facing a pace attack. In his defence it must be said that illness and injuries kept him out of several key games and restricted the so valuable match practice." Parkhouse played in only one of the first-class matches before the first Test match, and was not selected for that. He then made 58 and an unbeaten 46 in a four-day match against what was termed "An Australian XI", consisting of Arthur Morris, Keith Miller and Neil Harvey with younger players, most of whom later played Test cricket: Wisden said that Parkhouse despite "useful scores... was not at his best". The two innings got him into the Test team for the second match, played at Melbourne. In the first innings of a low-scoring match, he scored nine in a general collapse of England's upper batting order. In the second innings, batting at No 6, he made 28 as England failed by 29 runs to make a target of just 179. A score of 92, his highest of the tour, in the next match against New South Wales cemented his place in the Test side for the third match, at Sydney. But in yet another defeat for the England team, he made 25 and 15. With the series already lost, England brought David