Brown was an unsuccessful captain and his greatest mistake was to move Hutton down the batting order from one to six in a bid to strengthen the lower order: the result was that Hutton ran out of partners three times in the first two Tests. Kay summarised the tour as "one long succession of inglorious displays that had riled the critics without exception". The team's poor fielding came in for especial criticism and earned them the nickname of Brown's Cows. However, Bill O'Reilly wrote that Brown did a magnificent job as both player and captain through his unselfish devotion to the job, earning the admiration of the Australian supporters. The first Test at Woolloongabba was decided by a torrential rainstorm which flooded the ground after Australia had scored 228 and turned the wicket into a "sticky dog". Brown had bowled well, taking 2/63 in support of Bedser and Bailey. In the changed conditions, Brown gambled on a declaration at 68/7 so that the Australians would have to bat on the wet pitch before it dried out. Predictably, Australia's batting collapsed and their captain Lindsay Hassett declared at 32/7 to make England bat again. Brown missed an opportunity to save time when he misunderstood how long it took to roll the pitch, given that the ground still used a horse-drawn heavy roller. Next morning, England were all out for 122 and lost by 70 runs. In the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia were dismissed for 194 and England were reduced to 54/5 before Brown came in to top-score with 62 in England's 197. He won the crowd over with this innings, especially when he hit Ian Johnson straight down the ground for six and through the covers for four. He bowled well and took 4/26 as Australia were out for 181, but England could only score 150 as the hosts won by 28 runs to take a 2–0 lead in the series. In the third Test, Brown made his highest Test score of 79 with another defiant innings after England had been reduced to 137/4. Injuries to Bailey and Doug Wright seriously depleted England's bowling and Brown had to bowl 44 overs to support Bedser and debutant John Warr. He took a commendable 4/153 as Australia totalled 426 before bowling England out again to win the match by an innings and secure the series victory. The remainder of