Name:

Parker, Charles W L

Nickname:

Charlie, Parlie Charker

Date of Birth:

14 Oct 1882

Gender:

Men

Place of Birth:

Prestbury, Gloucestershire

Date Died:

11 Jul 1959

Career:

Test: 1921 - 1921
First Class: 1903 - 1935

Teams:

Gloucestershire (Regional)
England (Country)

Cricket Highlights from 1899-1938

Charlie Parker: Great left arm spinner, denied by Plum Warner rivalry

Charlie Parker was born on October 14, 1882 in Prestbury, Gloucestershire. He died aged 76 on July 11, 1959 in Cranleigh, Surrey.

In the period between the wars, Parker was the finest spinner in England on a drying pitch, although his pace was nearer medium than slow.

“On a sticky wicket Charles Parker was the greatest bowler I have seen,” wrote RC Robertson-Glasgow, “for there was no man whom he could not make to look like a child batting with a pencil.”

In a first-class career which began in 1905 but only really bloomed after the end of the First World War, Parker took 3,278 wickets. Only Wilfred Rhodes and ‘Tich’ Freeman have taken more. He took 100 wickets in a season in his last 16 seasons for Gloucestershire.

Parker played only one Test for England against Australia at Old Trafford in 1921. He took 2-32 in 28 miserly overs. Many suspect that he did not play more for England because of a long simmering clash he had with Plum Warner, then presiding over as supremo at the MCC after ending his playing days.

In his own benefit match against Yorkshire in 1922, he hit the stumps with five successive balls. The second delivery however, was a no-ball.

In 1924 he became the first bowler to take three hat-tricks in the same County Championship season - two of which came in the same match against Middlesex. The following year against Essex at Gloucester he returned match figures of 17-56 which remains the best bowling in country cricket.

Whilst the root cause for this rivalry with Warner is not know, it came to a head at Gloucestershire’s Annual Dinner in 1929. Warner and Parker addressed the diners. Warner managed to omit the spinner’s name from the list of Gloucestershire cricketers to whom he paid tribute. Later that evening, Parker and his team mate Reg Sinfield were in the crowded the lift-cage when the attendant insisted that room should be made for Mr Pelham Warner. Parker snapped. He seized Warner by the lapels of his dinner jacket stating that “I’ll never in my life make way for that bugger. He’s never had a good word to say for me. This so and so has blocked my Test match career… Make way for him? Mr Bloody Warner will go to bed when I’ve finished with him.” Warner was white with shock but never mentioned the matter. There was no disciplinary action for Parker.

After retiring at the age of 52 in 1935, Parker became cricket coach of Cranleigh School.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter