as expected, the australian team's leaders ian johnson and keith miller, retired from cricket after the tour. harvey replaced johnson as victorian captain and was the logical choice as successor to the test captaincy, as the most experienced member of the team (48 tests). queensland's captain, the veteran paceman ray lindwall, was no longer an automatic test selection. however, both harvey and benaud had been criticised for their attitude towards johnson in an official report to the board about the 1956 tour. harvey was surprisingly overlooked for the captaincy, which went to ian craig, who had replaced miller as new south wales skipper. craig was only 22 and had played six tests; he had yet to establish himself in the team. after several disappointing results against england, the selectors chose a youthful team. harvey was named vice-captain to craig for both the 1956–57 non-test tour of new zealand and the 1957–58 test tour to south africa.