Born near the New South Wales country town of Bathurst, Booth moved to Sydney in 1952 and played in the grade cricket competition while training to become a teacher.

Booth struggled to make an impression early in his career and missed a season to train with the Australian field hockey team for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

Following the retirement of Richie Benaud, Booth was appointed vice-captain under Simpson as Australia embarked on a successful 1964 tour of England, which saw the retention of the Ashes.

In 1950, Booth represented New South Wales Country against a combined Sydney team, and moved to St. George to play on a weekly basis two years later.

Arthur Morris and Bill Watson had to withdraw at late notice and Booth was asked to play, having already started his day's work as a teacher at Hurlstone Agricultural College.

[7] Booth considered retiring after the season, feeling that the time needed for first-class cricket was impinging on his work as a lay preacher and a Christian youth worker.

[7] Booth was then selected for the Ashes tour of England in 1961; he and Victorian opening batsman Bill Lawry, the two uncapped batsmen in the team, were regarded as the last two players chosen.

[13][29] After scoring 72 in the opening match of the season and adding 41 against the touring Englishmen for New South Wales,[7] Booth retained his place in the Test team for the 1962–63 Ashes series.

[28] In the Second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Fred Titmus bowled outside leg stump with five men on the one side, but Booth completed consecutive centuries with 103 in the second innings.

[7] Coming to the crease with Australia at 3/88 in the first innings of the First Test in Brisbane, Booth withstood an opening burst of bouncers from South African spearhead Peter Pollock.

[8] 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 for the 1964 tour of England.

[36] 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.

[41] Three Tests against India and one against Pakistan lay ahead of Booth as the Australians visited the Indian subcontinent on the late-1964 voyage back to Australia.

[32] At the time, cricket matches in Australia and England were typically interrupted by the Sunday rest day, and Booth used these for religious observances.

[7] 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.

[37] 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.

[47] It was an extra burden, as Booth had made only 49 runs in the first two Tests;[21] his teammates felt that their captain had been too anxious following his struggles against Griffith in the Caribbean.

[48] However, there was to be no fairytale for Booth,[47] who later admitted to being in psychological disarray; he was unaware if the rolling done on the pitch after the toss was legal, and Philpott arrived late and ran onto the field just as play was starting.

[11] After failing to pass 26 in his first five innings, Booth made his highest first-class score, 214 not out, against Central Districts,[7][8] and was Australia's leading run-scorer for the tour.

[4] In hockey, a player is not allowed to lift his stick above the shoulders; this background strengthened Booth's forearms and wrists and enabled him to impart momentum on the ball without a large swing of the bat.

[3][8] He was known for his efficient out-fielding, and on the second day of the Second Test against the West Indies in Trinidad in 1964–65, he ran out Gary Sobers and Basil Butcher with strong throws from the outfield.

Booth became intensely religious in the 1950s after befriending Pastor Roy Gray, a colleague in district cricket and a classmate at Sydney Teachers College.

He appeared with the English Test opener Reverend David Sheppard at Sydney Town Hall and preached with Conrad Hunte in the West Indies.

[3] Early in his state career, Booth declined to join a Melbourne Cup gambling sweep organised by captain Keith Miller.

Before retiring in 1989, Booth served as the head of the Health and Human Movement Studies Department at the Sydney Institute of Education—the successor of the STC—for five years.

[61] In 1967, Booth was appointed the founding chairman of the Youth Advisory Council, a body that sought to address community issues such as hooliganism.

[57] Booth was made a life member of the New South Wales Cricket Association (NSWCA) in 1974 and served as a vice-president for four years from 1973–74 onwards.

[60] In the 1974 Federal Election, Booth gained preselection as the Liberal candidate for the Division of St George, standing against Science Minister William Morrison of the ruling Australian Labor Party.

[66] Booth's contribution to his home town was recognised alongside Norma Johnston in October 2022, with the announcement that the pair would each have a sightscreen named after them at the redeveloped Bathurst Sportsground.