MacLaren took a new job with a wine merchant which allowed him to complete a full season in 1903. Wet weather caused many difficult pitches for batting, and MacLaren was often the only Lancashire batsman able to cope with the conditions. His highest-profile success came when he captained the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord's. When his team faced defeat on the final day on a difficult pitch, he scored 168 not out and shared a partnership of 309 with C. B. Fry in less than three hours. This innings was later praised as one of his finest. He ended the season with 1,886 runs at 42.86, and Lancashire finished fourth. However, his success with the bat was overshadowed by controversy over the England captaincy. MacLaren originally planned to tour Australia with another private team in the winter of 1903–04, but withdrew over his concerns that there was not enough strong bowling available. Frustrated with MacLaren, the cricket authorities in Melbourne asked the MCC, via Pelham Warner, to organise their own team. MacLaren was not offered the captaincy—Warner was chosen in June 1903 when Jackson proved unavailable. Newspaper rumours suggested that Lord Hawke played a part in this decision, and that MacLaren's recent paid role for Lancashire counted against him. The press favoured MacLaren, and Warner was widely criticised; one journal noted that he was "condemned as an interloper and a nonentity". The cricket establishment was less sympathetic to MacLaren. After publicly vacillating over the summer, he eventually decided not to tour under Warner, whom he perceived to be his junior. The tour proved a great success for Warner, and his team won the Test series.