 In the mid-1950s, he was batting higher in the order, often at No 3, though this was partly due to the weakness of the Somerset side, which finished bottom of the County Championship for four consecutive seasons from 1952 to 1955.Playing for a weak team may not have helped Stephenson's representative career, though England were not short of outstanding wicketkeepers in this period.The nearest he got to Test honours was as part of a Commonwealth team that toured India in 1950–51, when he took part in two of the "unofficial Tests" and headed the batting averages for the tour as a whole.