In two games against Victoria he took eighteen wickets for 184 runs, but it was his excellence against Alfred Shaw's touring side that brought Turner acclaim in the English cricket community.

However, still regarded as the best bowler for English conditions, Turner did not disappoint the selectors in 1890, taking 179 first-class wickets (215 in all games) but being unable to break England's dominance of Test cricket at the time.

In the relatively dry English summer of 1893, Turner still was Australia's leading bowler with 148 wickets at 13.63, but the absence of Ferris and business commitments were slowly taking their toll on him.

His record in this Test series was, actually, his best since 1888, but two years later his banking business required him to move to Queensland, where he was not able then to continue playing cricket apart from one match for his benefit as late as the 1909–10 season – when he was 47 – that was not successful.

He bowled right-hand medium pace with a relatively long and rhythmic run-up and a beautiful delivery that never aimed to exploit even his rather limited height of five feet nine inches (175 centimetres).