1968–69 season saw a heavy workload for Gleeson, in five Tests against the West Indies cricket team. In the first two Tests he took 13 wickets, including hauls of 5/122 and 5/61, and finished the series with 26 wickets at an average of 32.46. He also peaked in his batting contributions, making his two highest scores of 42* and 45 in consecutive Tests at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Adelaide Oval. The subsequent 1969–70 tour to India was to be Australia's last Test series win there for 35 years. He took match figures of 7/108 in the First Test at Mumbai, the leading return by an Australian in an eight-wicket victory, but only three wickets in the next four matches, ending the series with ten wickets at 34.70. In 1969–70, when Australia toured South Africa, Gleeson's value was such that he insured his right hand for A$10,000. Gleeson took 18 wickets in two first-class matches against provincial teams at the start of the tour and then another five in the First Test at Cape Town, and five in the second innings in the Third Test in Johannesburg. Most of the South Africans were seeing him for the first time and struggled to understand his action. It was Barry Richards, the most junior of them, who claimed to have worked him out. Not once in seven innings did Gleeson, who took 19 wickets at 38.94 in the series, dismiss Richards, as South Africa took a 4–0 series win. Gleeson was the top Australian wicket taker in the 1970–71 Ashes series, but his 14 wickets cost 43.21 as his quest for variety resulted in loose balls and he was punished by the English batsmen who had met him in 1968. Despite being able to use their legs without danger, batsmen were still unable to overcome him during the 1971–72 domestic season when he took 45 wickets at 16.31 in eight matches, including 19 wickets in two consecutive matches. Gleeson was recalled for the 1972 Ashes tour, but was dropped after the first three Tests, in which he managed only three wickets at 52.33. He had minor skills with the bat, with one first-class half-century and a Test top score of 45. After Gleeson toured South Africa with Derrick Robins' team in 1973–74, Graeme Pollock helped to organise a position for him in the Eastern Province team for his final first class