1,381 runs at an average of 51.14, the first time he had passed four figures in a season. In his history of the England cricket captaincy, Alan Gibson notes that the controversy over Chapman's appointment was soon forgotten following his success. He writes: "English cricket had a new hero who looked the part ... Every selector was a champion!" In its summary of the 1927 season, Wisden named him as Kent's best batsman and noted an improvement in his defensive technique. Against Lancashire, who retained the County Championship, he scored 260 in three hours' batting, the highest score of his career. The Lancashire bowling attack included former Australian Test bowler Ted McDonald, regarded as the fastest bowler in the world at the time and feared by most county batsmen. Many critics praised Chapman's innings as one of the best ever played. He was selected to lead the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord's for the first time, and led representative sides in two of the three Test trials held that season; the press judged his captaincy to be good. He totalled 1,387 runs in first-class games at an average of 66.04, the highest aggregate and average of his career. The Kent captaincy became available at the end of the season, but Chapman was not appointed; according to Chapman's biographer, David Lemmon, he was probably approached but was unable to dedicate the necessary time to the position. Chapman was unavailable for the Test series in South Africa in the winter of 1927–28, but was a certainty to lead the MCC team to Australia in 1928–29. The selectors wished him to play more regularly, so he played more often in 1928 than any other season. He began in good form, but was never as effective as in 1927. Although his captaincy continued to be highly regarded, there were concerns in the press over his increasing weight, although these were offset by his impressive fielding in that season's Tests. He captained England to a 3–0 series win over West Indies, who were playing their first Test matches, and scored one fifty. In total, he scored 967 first-class runs at 37.19. As expected, Chapman was named as captain for the Australian tour. The MCC touring team was regarded as a strong one by commentators; the only controversy was the omission of Frank Woolley which was not fully explained. Rumours in later years said that