Obituaries Australia

Warwick Armstrong, 1940s

A big man in every respect, Warwick Armstrong, whose death has occurred in Sydney at the age of 69, was one of the giants of Australian cricket. He, Monty Noble and George Giffen, rank as the three greatest all-rounders Australia has had.

From the time of his first appearance in the Victorian team in 1898-8, until his retirement soon after the 1921 tour of England, he was a dominating figure in the game, performing in extraordinary fashion with bat and ball, and fittingly ending his career by leading Australia in two series of Test matches without suffering a defeat. He is the only captain of a Test team to win all five games of a series, as he did in 1921-2.

From a tall, slim youth, he rapidly developed into a 20-stoner and his weight during most of his career was round about that figure. For his weight, he was a remarkably active man, and there were fewer better runners between the wickets. Strenuous football practice had little effect on his weight. For Victoria, against New South Wales, he made 2402 runs at an average of 41, and took 83 wickets at 27 runs each.

For Victoria against South Australia, his record was 2800 runs at 64 an innings, and 101 wickets at 20 runs each: and against Queensland, 800 runs at 133 an innings, and 28 wickets at 13 runs each.

In 42 tests against England he made 2172 runs at 35 an innings, and took 74 wickets at 30 runs each. Against South Africa, his record was 507 runs at 46 an innings, and 20 wickets at 35 a wicket.

In all first-class cricket Armstrong's record is:

Batting: 269 matches, 406 innings, 61 not outs, 16,164 runs, highest score 303 not out, average 46.85.

Bowling: 43,283 balls, 1999 maidens, 16.406 runs, 832 wickets, average 19.71.

Forty-five century scores stand to his credit, the highest being 303 not out against Somerset, in 1905.