captain 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 for the 1964 tour of england. along with simpson and lawry, booth was one of three on-tour selectors. 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. while simpson was known for being relentlessly hard-nosed, he was also abrasive and sometimes irritated others by making derogatory comments towards teammates. booth again ran daily fitness classes during the voyage, and on this occasion, simpson made them compulsory for the players. booth started the tour well, scoring 109 not out in his third match for the summer, against surrey. he passed 50 three more times before the start of the tests, when his form waned.