team throughout the tour. After making a duck in the First Test against Pakistan in Dacca, which Australia won by eight wickets, he was dropped for the Second Test before returning and scoring 12 in the drawn Third Test in Karachi. Australia took the series 2–0. He was overlooked for the first three Tests in India, but after illness struck as it did on the previous tour, Burge scored 157 against Indian Universities and was recalled for the final two Tests in Madras and Calcutta, scoring 35 and 60 respectively as Australia won the former by an innings and drew the latter to take the series 2–1. At the start of the 1960–61 season, Burge again found himself outside the Test team. He made a series of starts in four matches for Queensland, reaching 15 in all eight innings but only managing two half-centuries with a top-score of 75. This changed in two fixtures over the Christmas and New Year period. He struck 240 in a ten-wicket win over South Australia and then made 103 and 55 in a low-scoring two-wicket win over Western Australia, scoring over 38% of his team's runs. He was recalled for the Fourth Test against the West Indies and told his new employers he would retire if he did not make runs. He made 45 and 49 as Australia hung on for a draw in Adelaide with one wicket in hand, and before scoring 68 and 53 in the Fifth Test as Australia won to take the series 2–1. Burge had a productive season in 1960–61 and led the Australian first-class batting averages at 53.75. Career consolidated The 1961 Ashes tour to England was the first series in which Burge played in all five Tests. He rewarded the selectors by finishing second to Bill Lawry in the Test averages. In the county matches ahead of the Tests, Australia's preparation was interrupted by frequent rain, while some of Burge's innings were cut short when the tourists reached their victory target. These contributed to his first five innings being incomplete innings, one of which was a 101 against Lancashire. After a succession of low scores in the second half of May, Burge hit 158 against Sussex in the final county match before the Tests. Burge made 25 in Australia's only innings in a high-scoring draw in the First Test at Edgbaston. Burge then scored 137 against Leicestershire