After making 872 runs at 51.29 with four centuries in 1937–38, Badcock toured England in 1938. He had considerable success in the first-class matches, scoring 1,604 runs at an average of 45.82 with four centuries and finishing as the third most successful batsman of the Australian team on the tour. However, in the four Tests he failed to reach double figures in any innings: an oddity of his Test career is that, having scored the one century in 1936–37, he was never, in 11 further Test innings, out in double figures.