Bill Jeanes, who was secretary of the Australian Board of Control and had managed the previous Australian tour of England in 1938, was offered the job of managing the 1948 team, but turned it down. Jeanes had become increasingly unpopular among the players because of an approach that cricket historian Gideon Haigh has called "increasingly officious and liverish". He was replaced by Keith Johnson, the New South Wales delegate to the Australian Board of Control. Johnson had previously managed the Australian Services team—which included Keith Miller and Lindsay Hassett—in the Victory Tests that took place in 1945 at the conclusion of the Second World War in Europe.