Bill Lawry
Lawry was born in the Melbourne suburb of Thornbury. He was given the names William Morris after the early Prime Minister of Australia, William Morris Hughes. His father Alfred played amateur cricket until the age of 51. Bill never saw his father play, who was aged 47 when Bill was born. Aged nine, he played competitive cricket for the first time with the Thornbury Presbyterian Church team. He spent three years there, as well as playing for Preston Technical School. When he was twelve, he entered Melbourne's district competition playing for Northcote's fourth team, working his way up to the First XI by the age of sixteen. At the time, he was apprenticed as a plumber and attending Preston Technical College. Lawry was selected for Victoria's Second XI at the age of seventeen. He made a duck against the South Australians and did not see any further action for the Seconds for the rest of the summer of 1954–55. The following season, Lawry was recalled to the Seconds and scored 183 against South Australia.
Charles Palmer (cricketer)
Palmer was a small man (five foot seven inches tall, only a slight build) with poor eyesight who played wearing glasses. Trevor Bailey joked that he looked "a natural for the role of a hen-pecked bank clerk in a farce". This did not stop him becoming a fine batsman and slow medium bowler because he "possessed deceptively strong wrists" which enabled him to play shots like the cut and drive with excellent timing. Palmer first played cricket for Worcestershire in 1938, before World War II and a teaching career intervened, although he still played a few games for the Bombay Europeans in Indian domestic cricket in 1946, with some games for Worcestershire. In 1948, he scored 85 in a morning's play against Don Bradman's Australian tourists (the "Invincibles") with Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller both bowling. Bradman praised his effort but it did not bring a test match selection at that time. Palmer did tour South Africa with MCC in 1948–49 but didn't play in any of the tests there.