when he was given a heavy workload, totalling 58 overs, when Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller broke down during the match. In another match for New South Wales against the touring team, he took a total of 5/95. Up to this point, his first-class batting average was below 30 and his bowling average close to 40, and he had never taken more than four wickets in an innings or six in a match. The selectors persisted in Benaud despite his unproductive Test performances, selecting him for the squad for the 1953 Ashes tour of England. He had been seventh and eighth in the domestic run-scoring and wicket-taking aggregates for the season, but was yet to convert this into international performance. He justified their decision prior to the team's departure, scoring 167 not out and taking match figures of 7/137 for the touring team against a Tasmania Combined XI, his wickets including Test batsmen Miller, Ian Craig and Neil Harvey. He also put on 167 in a partnership with Alan Davidson, the first collaboration between the pair, who would later go on to lead Australia's bowling in the last five years of their career. Benaud struck an unbeaten 100 and totalled 1/64 in the next match against Western Australia before the Australians departed for England. On arrival in the British Isles, Benaud quickly made an impression with both bat and ball. After scoring 44 and taking 2/66 in the opening first-class match against Worcestershire, the all-rounder starred in his next match, against Yorkshire. He scored 97 in Australia's only innings and then took 7/46 in the hosts' first innings as the Australians took an innings win. Although his form with the willow dropped off in his remaining six matches before the Tests—a 35 was his only score beyond 20 in seven attempts—Benaud continued to strike regularly with the ball. He took 18 wickets in these matches, including 3/20 and 3/37 against Oxford University, 5/13 against Minor Counties and 4/38 against Hampshire. This was enough for him to gain selection for the start of the Tests. He managed only eight runs in four innings in the first two Tests, and having taken only two wickets for 136 runs was dropped for the Third. This was part of a month-long run in which he made only 123 runs in eight innings and took only seven wickets in four matches. He was recalled immediately