As well as being a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, Loxton was a right-arm fast-medium swing bowler who liked to aim at the upper bodies of the opposition, and an outfielder with an accurate and powerful throw.

After debuting in 1942, he played 41 games in the VFL for St Kilda as a forward, kicking a total of 114 goals before retiring at the end of the 1946 season to concentrate on his cricket career.

He played a prominent role in the Fourth Test, scoring an aggressive and counterattacking 93 that helped Australia pry the initiative from England; the tourists eventually won the match.

Loxton had to deal with a variety of tumultuous events on and off the field during his tenure, often relating to player misconduct, and retired from cricket administration in 1981 following the underarm incident.

[10] The squad was coached by Bert Cohen and former Test batsman and captain Jack Ryder,[11] and Loxton credited the latter as the biggest influence on his career, saying He was an inspiration so far as I was concerned.

Miller was deployed to South Australia for training before becoming a fighter pilot in England,[17][18] while his St Kilda colleague served in a reserve unit in Melbourne,[16] enabling him to continue his football career when granted leave.

[21] An attacking right-handed middle-order batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler, Loxton spent much of his cricket career in the shadow of Miller, who played the same type of role.

[23] Loxton was passed over for Test selection and returned to domestic competition, scoring 53 and taking a total of 4/56 in the next match against New South Wales, which the Victorians won by nine wickets.

[34] As the Australians often played six days a week, they employed a rotation policy in the county matches, and in the second game against Leicestershire, Loxton made his debut on English soil.

[42] He followed up with an unbeaten 79 and two wickets in the match against Oxford University, but that failed to win him a place in the first set-piece battle of the summer, against the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's.

[46] The Victorian all-rounder then top-scored with 123 and took a total of 4/48 in a nine-wicket win in the intervening county match against Middlesex at Lord's,[61] and he retained his place in the side for the Fourth Test at Leeds.

[70] Wisden Cricketers' Almanack summed up his contribution thus: A fine driving batsman with a fierce square cut, Loxton achieved little as a bowler, but he played his part as an all-rounder, one of many in the team; in addition to his batting feats, he kept the game alive by his unlimited enthusiasm.

[72] The Victorian all-rounder ended the season with 634 runs at 42.26 and 16 wickets at 24.31 and was selected for the South African tour under the leadership of the newly appointed captain Lindsay Hassett.

[23] The Third Test at Kingsmead in Durban was dramatic; batting first, South Africa made 311 and Hugh Tayfield then took 7/23 as Australia collapsed to 75 all out after the rain and sun had baked the playing surface into a sticky wicket.

[23][85] After contributing 17 in a total of 426 in the Third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which Australia won by an innings to take an unassailable 3–0 series lead,[86] he was dropped in favour of Jim Burke, who scored a century on debut.

In the penultimate match of the season, which effectively determined the fate of the Sheffield Shield, the Victorian all-rounder took 4/44 to help dismiss New South Wales for 149 and take a 292-run first innings lead.

"[90] Former Test leg spinner Bill O'Reilly, while agreeing that Loxton was always energetic, regarded his bowling as being too dull and predictable to have any major impact at the highest level, and thought that the Victorian all-rounder's career would have been best served by saving his energy purely for batting.

It was widely believed that the high-ranking administrators saw the Indian subcontinent as an unenviable appointment;[94] on past tours, many players had fallen seriously ill, suffered food poisoning, and found the oppressive heat and third world living conditions hard to bear.

[95] Loxton felt that his experience with the Commonwealth XI six years earlier was a factor in his selection and suspected that he was the only applicant, quipping "what board member would be silly enough to go there?

[94] The Australian manager had also been told to rebuff any Pakistani overtures for a reciprocal tour, as it was feared that they lacked public appeal and would have caused financial losses due to a fall in ticket sales.

[102] The financial issue reared its head before the Second Test against India in Kanpur, when Loxton belligerently refused to start the match after the payment had failed to arrive on time.

Loxton took a photo of the scene and lodged it to cricket authorities, asking them to make a ruling on whether a batsman would be out if the ball struck the umpire's loose shoes and bounced up into a fielder's hands.

[104] He was aided by preferences from the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), which had broken away from the ALP during the 1950s, claiming that it was too soft towards communism; fears of left-wing influence was causing great concern in Australian society at the time.

[12] At the time of his election, he was the youngest member of parliament, and was given the honour of making the Address-in-Reply, the first speech after opening of the new sitting by the governor,[108] using it to advocate increased lending from the government-owned banks to promote higher levels of home ownership.

[115] The Liberals may have been hindered by a how-to-vote card circulated on election day by a third party that had a pro-Liberal headline, but instructed the reader to mark the ALP candidate as their first preference.

[118] As he continued to play first-class cricket for three years after his election to parliament, he was a busy man, and teammates described him as a hard-working representative, recalling that he often brought his political paperwork to the ground with him, going through the material while waiting in the dressing room for his turn to bat.

[124] During the 1970–71 home series against England, which Australia lost 2–1, the trio made a raft of changes, handing debuts to nine players, the largest number in a season since 1945–46 when competition resumed after World War II.

[65] The former all-rounder was known for his vigorous advocacy of the more sedate and gentlemanly conduct that existed during his playing days and felt that he and his fellow administrators were losing control of the sport.

Loxton, who was watching a one-day international between Australia and New Zealand at the MCG in his role as a selector, broke down and wept after Australian captain Greg Chappell infamously ordered his younger brother Trevor to exploit a loophole and bowl underarm to eliminate the chance of a defeat.

[133] Although he became severely visually impaired, Loxton still attended matches and asked his companions to describe the proceedings for him; ever opinionated and blunt, he still offered advice to local cricketers.