A latecomer who did not play first-class cricket until he was 28, Spooner was a quick-witted left-handed batsman who could open the innings or bat further down the order, and a reliable wicket-keeper whose opportunities at Test level were limited because he was an exact contemporary of Godfrey Evans.
But the following season, 1951, he jumped right to the front rank of wicketkeeper-batsmen, regularly opening the innings for Warwickshire and scoring more than 1,700 runs, with four centuries.
[2] Warwickshire won the County Championship for only the second time, and Spooner was picked for the 1951–52 MCC tour of India, Pakistan and Ceylon under Nigel Howard, from which several England regulars, including Evans, absented themselves.
On the English tour of the West Indies in 1953–54, he replaced the injured Evans for the fourth Test on another lifeless pitch at Port of Spain, Trinidad.
This final Test, in which England won the series 3–2 late on the last scheduled afternoon, was not a total personal success: Spooner conceded no byes, but failed to score in either innings.