Barrington never lost his ability as a spinner, and it made him very effective against spin bowling, especially that of Benaud. His Surrey teammate Jim Laker wrote "His concentration was such that when facing slow bowlers, he would actually watch the ball spinning in the air and play it accordingly". His one weakness that he was not a good runner, he seldom wanted to relinquish the strike and thought quick singles tired a batsman out. Sometimes a keen batting partner would rush up the wicket only to find Barrington waiting for him to scramble back. John Edrich called him "the worst in the world", and his West Country accent meant that "won" (one or run) and "wait" sounded alike.