England tour, and no Test matches were played. Close returned to the full England side in 1957, playing in the first two Tests against the West Indies, but did not perform well enough to secure a regular Test place. Meanwhile, in this period, Yorkshire had not won a single County Championship. At the beginning of 1958 a new captain, Ronnie Burnet, was appointed. Burnet was 40 years old, without first-class cricket experience, and seemed an unlikely choice to restore to Yorkshire's fortunes. It was believed by the Yorkshire committee that Burnet would inject some discipline into the Yorkshire team, but initially the appointment caused problems. Several senior players left the club; Johnny Wardle, Yorkshire's top bowler and Close's preferred choice of captain, was sacked for disciplinary reasons. Yorkshire as county champions Burnet, aided by Close, was successful in 1959, when Yorkshire at last won the county championship. At the end of that season, as Close later heard, Burnet was told that, having just won the championship, he could have another season as captain, but, if he did, Close would then take over. If Burnet resigned immediately, Vic Wilson could take over as captain in preference to Close. Burnet chose to step down straight-away. Once Wilson took over, with Close as the senior professional Yorkshire enjoyed a period of almost unbroken success, winning the county championship again in 1960, taking second place in 1961, and winning again in 1962. More controversy During this period Close was called up for his seventh Test in 1961, against Australia. This match, which at one point England appeared certain to win, turned to disaster, with Close bearing the main blame for England's defeat. England were chasing a total of 256 runs to win the match, with just under four hours left to play. Scoring rapidly, they reached 150 for 1 wicket. Then Ted Dexter and Peter May got out in quick succession to Benaud, who was pitching his leg breaks into the rough outside the right-handers' leg stump. This brought Close to the crease. May, the captain, was instructing his players to go for the runs and secure the victory. Close accordingly took a calculated risk, and chose to hit out. He took one six off Benaud, but to the tenth ball he faced he played another unorthodox shot which Norman O'Neill caught above his head with two hands. Purists were outraged, and as England