Wisden noted, though, that he "did not make the progress hoped for" and that, though "a spirited competitor, he possible needs more positive thought and application to bring greater consistency".
[8] In both 1983 and on the tour to the West Indies in 1984–85, Palmer played in England's youth cricket team as a lower order batsman and seam bowler.
Against Kent at Canterbury in the John Player League in 1985, he took five wickets for 34 runs, his first five-wicket haul in limited-overs cricket.
[10] And the following year in the Benson and Hedges Cup match against Sussex at Hove he scored 53, his only innings of more than 50 in List A cricket.
[11] The departure of major cricketers – Richards, Garner and Ian Botham – after Somerset's disastrous 1986 season gave Palmer more opportunities in 1987, but his impact was confined largely to the one-day game and in the match against Kent at Canterbury he improved on his best bowling figures from two years before, taking five for 24: these remained the best List A bowling figures of his career.