opening the batting, and completed another double with 128 wickets, but the Wisden correspondent did not believe this compensated for his lost bowling. In 1907, Rhodes scored fewer runs and increased his bowling aggregate, securing 173 wickets in a wet season. Wisden believed his greater bowling success was due to a reduced batting contribution, but he still completed the double by scoring 1,045 runs. During that season, Rhodes was again asked to open the batting for Yorkshire and he was chosen as the permanent replacement for John Tunnicliffe as Yorkshire's opening batsman. Several batsmen had been tried in the position, but Rhodes's superior defensive technique with the bat secured him the role. Despite the increase in wickets, Rhodes was not picked for any of the Tests that year against South Africa, Colin Blythe being preferred. Rhodes and Blythe both went to Australia the following winter (1907–08) with MCC, but Rhodes was now regarded primarily as a batsman and only a "change" bowler who would be the third or fourth used. In the five Test series, lost 4–1 by England, Rhodes scored 205 runs at an average of 20.50, including his first Test fifty in the fourth innings of the last Test. He took four for 102 in Australia's second innings of that Test, and finished the Test series with seven wickets at an average of 60.14. In all first-class matches on the tour, Rhodes scored 929 runs at an average of 48.89 and took 31 wickets at an average of 34.48. He followed this with another double in 1908 of 1,660 runs and 106 wickets as Yorkshire won the County Championship. In 1909, Rhodes scored 2,094 runs at an average of 40.26, which was to remain his second highest run aggregate and average for an English cricket season, and took 141 wickets. Sidney Rogerson believed that this season marked the completion of his transformation into a batsman. This view was supported by Wisden, which judged that he had "now become such an exceptionally good batsman that the regret one used to feel at his ever giving his mind to run getting has lost its force." He played in four of the five Tests against Australia in 1909; his omission from the second Test was later described as an error of judgement by the editor of Wisden, one of many selectorial blunders as England lost the series two games to one.