In 1954 Close scored his first first-class century for Yorkshire, an undefeated 123 against the touring Pakistanis. In 1955 he scored his first county championship century. In that year he played one Test match against South Africa, and at the end of the season was only 3 wickets short of another 1,000 runs/100 wickets double. He was in the selectors' sights again, and was picked for the tour to Pakistan in 1955/56. This was not a full England tour, and no Test matches were played. Close returned to the full England side in 1957, playing in the first two Tests against the West Indies, but did not perform well enough to secure a regular Test place.