MCC, captained by Carr and including Sutcliffe (son of Herbert), Roy Swetman and the very young Mike Cowdrey, had been sent on a development tour of Pakistan. The tour included three 'representative' matches that were treated by Pakistan as quasi-Tests. By the third such match in Peshawar, MCC players were furious with umpire Idris Baig, who had given them out lbw repeatedly — including four times in one innings.
On the evening before the rest day, Carr and a group of players took a tonga to Baig's hotel, located him still in his dinner jacket, gagged him and brought him back to Dean's Hotel. He was hauled to Sutcliffe's room and doused with buckets of water. The players considered it a piece of harmless ragging and had been drinking; nobody, by Carr's later account, intended any humiliation.
Baig went home, was visited by Pakistan captain Kardar, and re-emerged the following morning with his arm in a sling, claiming injury, gagging and assault. Pakistan's press and student bodies erupted; demonstrations were held; troops were stationed outside MCC's hotel. Telegrams flew between Karachi and Lord's. Pakistan demanded the tour be abandoned. Carr called MCC secretary Ronny Aird in London and accepted full responsibility, although he had not initiated the prank.
Diplomacy by MCC president Lord Alexander and Pakistan board president Iskander Mirza eventually allowed the tour to continue, with Carr expressing public regret. Carr told the MCC committee on his return: 'when I look back on the Peshawar incident I think it was about the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life'.