The second Test was badly affected by weather and Hirst did not bat or bowl, and in the third Test in Sheffield, lost by England, he scored eight runs and did not take any wickets. Although he failed at Sheffield, Hirst was the leading all-rounder in England and thus unlikely to be left out of the team. However, the England captain, Archie MacLaren, was engaged in a dispute with the team selectors over the composition of his side. He was given only 12 players to choose from for the fourth Test. Fred Tate was one of the twelve and the selectors probably included him as they believed MacLaren could not possibly choose him in the final eleven over another player and so would be forced to field the side they wanted. MacLaren responded by dropping Hirst to play Tate, out of anger towards the selectors. The pitch was soft, which would have favoured the bowling of Tate, but "Wisden" reported that while this offered some justification for dropping Hirst, "it meant playing a bowler pure and simple in preference to a first-rate all-round man, and the result proved anything but happy." Tate bowled just 16 overs in the game, dropped a vital catch and was the last man out as Australia won the match by three runs, giving them an unassailable lead in the series; later writers claimed that Tate's performance was responsible for losing the match.