After his retirement from Somerset, Close continued to play at the Scarborough Festival against the touring international teams, first for T.N. Pearce's XI in 1978 and then for his own XI from 1982 to 1986. In 1986, aged 55, and playing his last-ever first-class innings, Close needed 10 runs to achieve a career-total 35,000 runs. With his score on 4 he glanced a ball down leg-side to the wicket-keeper and walked. Afterwards, the New Zealanders said that if they'd known how near he was to the landmark, they would have let him stay, but Close would have none of it – he was out, and that was that. When asked why he gave himself out he said: "It's an honourable game and that's the way I was brought up." Close's 786 first-class matches leave him 10th on the all-time list. Only four outfielders have taken more catches.