by Abhishek Mukherjee

1953.

The England selectors were picking a squad of 15 for the upcoming tour of West Indies, one that Stephen Chalke would later describe as the second-most controversial tour in history.

For the first time in history did England have a full-time professional captain on a tour, in Len Hutton. But Hutton also meant hard-nosed, uncompromising cricket, more so after an insipid show by Gubby Allen's men on the 1947-48 and West Indies' 3-1 win in England in 1950. And now, with the Ashes reclaimed, Hutton was determined to be ruthless on the field.

This did not help things in an environment where voices of dissent were getting louder in every corner of the British Empire.

The selectors and MCC had probably anticipated this. They picked an uncapped, Leicestershire all-rounder, who usually bowled seam but could also switch to off-breaks (even donkey drops) when needed. He looked so innocuous that Trevor Bailey once called him "a hen-pecked bank clerk in a farce".

This man, Charlie Palmer, was the sixteenth member of the squad. And the manager.

Palmer, on the tour, emerged as the complete antithesis of Hutton. The diplomatic Palmer stepped in whenever things threatened to get out of hand.

The manager played in the second Test, scored 22 runs, did not take a wicket, and did not play again. Hutton's heroics (677 runs at 97) helped England save the series 2-2 after they were 0-2 down.

But Palmer's role on the tour was no less, for things were really volatile. An umpire's family was threatened after Holt got a dubious LBW in the first Test.

A riot broke out during the third Test when McWatt was declared run out when he was going for the hundredth run of the stand. West Indies were eight down, so Hutton decided to stay put.

Add to that Trueman's relentless aggression and bouncers, and doubts over Lock's action. It was an easy job for Palmer. As manager he had to play pacifier and convince Hutton. On the other hand, he was also part of the squad, which meant Hutton was his captain.

Things finally got out of hand when Hutton, during his nine-hour 205, was too tired to shake hands with Alexander Bustamante, then serving as first Chief Minister of Jamaica. Exhausted, he had probably failed to recognise Bustamante.

A six-foot-five man soon barged into the England dressing-room and lifted little Palmer: Hutton had committed the "ultimate insult".

It took Palmer 48 hours of conversations to sort it out.

On his tour report to MCC, Palmer insisted that the board never appointed a member of the squad as manager.

*

Palmer finished with a career haul of over 17,000 runs at 32 and 365 wickets at 25. His most famous show, however, came against Surrey, who were just over halfway through their streak of seven Championship titles.

Palmer met May (at that point arguably the best batsman in the world) when the latter strode out after the first wicket fell: "go easy on me, I haven't bowled all year".

May did not bother him. Palmer got a couple of wickets and announced "I'll stay for another over now," and stayed on. He reached 12-12-0-8, seven of which were bowled.

This was the best bowling figures for anyone with 8 or more wickets in an innings, better than even Laker's 8/2. "Take yourself off, Charlie!" yelled a voice from the crowd. But Palmer kept himself on.

He could have had 9/0, but *Laker* was dropped off him at cover. Palmer did not get to keep his record: he finished with 14-12-7-8. Once all that was done, he popped into the Surrey dressing-room to apologise – for hurting them, presumably.

Palmer then top-scored with 64. Surrey did not collapse a second time, but even in their 7-wicket win, Palmer had figures of 13-12-1-0.

Charles Palmer was born on 15 May 1919.