Editing Brian Booth (section)

=== Vice-captaincy ===

Captain [[Richie Benaud]] retired at the end of the South Africa series — he had already relinquished the leadership after the First Test—and Booth was elevated to the vice-captaincy under [[Bob Simpson (cricketer)|Bob Simpson]] for the [[Australian cricket team in England in 1964|1964 tour of England]].<ref name="p248"/> Along with Simpson and Lawry, Booth was one of three on-tour selectors.<ref name=h197>Haigh, p. 197.</ref> Some observers felt that the personable Booth would have been more popular among the playing group than Simpson, while others thought that he would not have been hard-nosed enough in pursuing his team's competitive interest.<ref name="r277">Robinson, p. 277.</ref> While Simpson was known for being relentlessly hard-nosed, he was also abrasive and sometimes irritated others by making derogatory comments towards teammates.<ref>Haigh, pp. 191–192, 243.</ref> Booth again ran daily fitness classes during the voyage, and on this occasion, Simpson made them compulsory for the players.<ref name=h211/> Booth started the tour well, scoring 109 not out in his third match for the summer, against [[Surrey County Cricket Club|Surrey]].<ref name=o/> He passed 50 three more times before the start of the Tests, when his form waned.<ref name=o/>

Booth failed to pass 20 in the first six innings of the Test series.<ref name="testlist"/> With Australia 1–0 up after three Tests, a draw in the Fourth Test was sufficient to retain the Ashes.<ref name=auslist/> Booth regained his touch with three scores beyond fifty in four innings leading up to the Fourth Test, including 132 against [[Middlesex County Cricket Club|Middlesex]].<ref name=o/> When the teams reconvened at Old Trafford for the Fourth Test, Booth made a "courtly" 98 in a 219-run partnership with Simpson. The Australians batted for more than two days to burn off any chance of an England victory.<ref>Perry (2000), p. 234.</ref><ref>Haigh, p. 204.</ref> Booth then scored 193 not out, his highest for the summer, in Australia's 7/315 declared against [[Yorkshire County Cricket Club|Yorkshire]], setting up the tourists' victory.<ref name=o/> He made 74 in the Fifth Test and ended the series with 210 runs at 42.00.<ref name="p248"/> Along with Simpson and Lawry, Booth was one of three Australians to accumulate more than 1,500 first-class runs for the English summer.<ref>Haigh, p. 206.</ref>

Three Tests against [[India national cricket team|India]] and one against [[Pakistan national cricket team|Pakistan]] lay ahead of Booth as the Australians visited the [[Indian subcontinent]] on the late-1964 voyage back to Australia. He had a mediocre time, passing fifty only once, with 74 in the Second Test at [[Mumbai|Bombay]]'s [[Brabourne Stadium]].<ref name=testlist/> That innings was terminated when Indian wicketkeeper [[KS Indrajitsinhji]] fumbled a stumping opportunity and the ball rolled back down the pitch. Despite breaking the stumps with his hand while the ball was not in close proximity, Indrajitsinhji's appeal for a [[stumped|stumping]] was upheld.<ref name=h207>Haigh, p. 207.</ref> According to [[Gideon Haigh]], "It seemed like ten men [one of the Australians was ill] were pitted against thirteen [eleven Indian players and two umpires]".<ref name=h207/> In the four Tests Booth compiled 127 runs at 21.17 and took the only three wickets of his Test career on the spin-friendly subcontinental surfaces. He took 2/33 in the drawn Third Test in [[Calcutta]], before capturing his final wicket in the second innings of the only Test against Pakistan in [[Karachi]].<ref name="p248"/> At the time, cricket matches in Australia and England were typically interrupted by the Sunday rest day, and Booth used these for religious observances. However, this custom was not observed on the subcontinent. Booth wanted to withdraw for personal reasons but decided to play due to injuries and illnesses to other players.<ref name="r277"/> He made 57 in a Test against Pakistan in Melbourne upon arrival in Australia. It was the only home Test of the season before the hosts embarked upon a [[Australian cricket team in the West Indies in 1964–65|tour to the Caribbean]].<ref name=auslist/><ref name="testlist"/><ref name="p248"/> Booth scored 115 for his state against the Pakistanis and ended the Australian season with 327 runs at 46.71.<ref name=o/>

Australia arrived in the [[West Indies]] in 1964–65 for five Tests against the emerging power of the 1960s, who were led by the hostile express [[pace bowling]] of [[Wes Hall]] and [[Charlie Griffith]]. After narrowly evading a bouncer at the start of his innings, Booth made a battling top-score of 56 in the First Test loss at [[Sabina Park]] in [[Jamaica]].<ref name="r277"/> He then made 117 in the Second Test at [[Port of Spain]] in [[Trinidad]], an innings that included a stand of 228 with [[Bob Cowper]], which helped Australia hang on for a draw. It was to be Booth's last Test century, an innings he regarded as his "most satisfying",<ref name="p248"/> having collected a series of bruises,<ref name="r278">Robinson, p. 278.</ref> on a ground with no [[Sight screen|sightscreen]].<ref>Haigh, p. 229.</ref> Booth did not pass 40 in the last three Tests and ended with 234 runs at 29.25 as Australia lost 2–1,<ref name="testlist"/> their first series loss since the [[Australian cricket team in England in 1956|1956 Ashes series]] and their first series loss against a team other than England, excluding a one-off Test against Pakistan in 1956.<ref name=auslist/> He had particular trouble with the pace of Griffith, and on one occasion, the paceman hit him on the nose before [[yorker|yorking]] him on the next ball; Booth maintains that he did not see the ball.<ref>Haigh, pp. 226–227.</ref> Booth added two more fifties in the four first-class matches outside the Tests.<ref name=o/>