In 1923 Fender enjoyed his best all-round season, scoring 1,427 runs and taking 178 wickets. The former was the second best aggregate of his career, the latter his highest total of wickets. Again, there were no Test matches, but Fender played in two Test trials. He was successful in the first match, taking six for 44 and scoring 49 runs, but his performance was overshadowed by continued controversy over the captaincy; Fender was not asked to captain a side in either match. The press questioned why the selectors ignored Fender's captaincy claims even though, in the view of journalists, he was the most deserving candidate. One writer suggested that Lord's "resented" Fender's success, and that politics prevented his appointment. At that time it was usual for amateurs and professionals to enter the field of play from different gates; Fender's habit was to use the same gate as his professionals. This brought a rebuke for Fender from Lord Harris, who said: "We do not want that sort of thing at Lord's, Fender". Surrey finished fourth in the Championship, hampered once again by their lack of bowlers; their batsmen frequently made large scores but the team could not bowl out the opposition and many games were drawn. Fender's batting continued to be effective, but he demonstrated a more restrained approach and improved his defence. Again, he had a heavy bowling workload given the lack of support, and "Wisden" said that he bowled with "pronounced spin and variety of device".