Warwick Armstrong, Australia's 26-year-old all-rounder, scored 2,002 runs and took 130 wickets in first-class matches on the 1905 tour of England — one of the great all-rounder tour returns of all time. The 'Big Ship' was Joe Darling's most consistent player; he would go on to play 50 Tests and captain Australia to a 5-0 Ashes whitewash in 1920-21.
Armstrong had played 21 first-class matches before the 1905 tour. His batting was commanding from the start — strong off the back foot, a powerful driver — and his leg-spin developed quickly. By the time he reached England in 1905 he was already a Test cricketer of some standing.
The 1905 tour was Joe Darling's last as captain. The team was strong but ageing; only Armstrong, Bardsley, Cotter and Macartney would survive into the post-1909 generation.
Australia lost the 1905 series 2-0 (with three drawn) but the touring side was in form throughout. Armstrong's contribution was both with bat (highlight: 248 v Sussex at Hove) and ball (career-best 9 for 44 v Worcestershire).
Warwick Windridge Armstrong, 6 ft 2 in and weighing close to 22 stone at his peak, was already known as 'Big Ship' before he reached 30. Born in Kyneton, Victoria, in 1879, he made his Test debut in 1902 and was Joe Darling's choice for the 1905 Ashes tour at age 26.
The tour was Armstrong's coming-of-age. He scored 2,002 first-class runs (including 11 hundreds) and took 130 wickets with leg-spin, becoming one of the few touring cricketers ever to do the 2,000-and-100 double on a single overseas trip. In the Ashes Tests he was less spectacular (252 runs at 31.50, 16 wickets at 33.18) but his county form was beyond the level of any Australian on the tour.
Armstrong's career covered 1902-1921, with 50 Tests, 2,863 runs at 38.69 and 87 Test wickets at 33.59. He captained Australia in 10 Tests, all between 1920 and 1921, winning eight and drawing two — including the 5-0 home Ashes whitewash of England in 1920-21. He was a controversial figure: bluntly outspoken, often in dispute with the Australian board, and one of the Big Six who refused to tour England in 1912. He died in 1947.
1905 tour: 2,002 first-class runs at 47.66.
11 hundreds in the season.
248 v Sussex at Hove — career best at the time.
130 first-class wickets at 17.60.
9 for 44 v Worcestershire — career-best leg-spin figures.
Ashes Tests: 252 runs and 16 wickets.
Tour double of 2,000+ runs and 100+ wickets — rare touring achievement.
22 May 1879
Armstrong born in Kyneton, Victoria.
1898-99
Sheffield Shield debut for Victoria.
1902
Test debut v England at Sydney.
1905
Tour of England — 2,002 runs and 130 wickets.
1909
Second tour of England.
1912
Refuses to tour England (Big Six).
1920-21
Captains Australia to 5-0 Ashes win.
13 July 1947
Dies in Melbourne.
“Armstrong was one of the few touring cricketers who has ever done the double of 2,000 runs and 100 wickets in an English season.”
Armstrong continued through the 1909 tour of England (ordinary by his standards) and into the 1911-12 home Ashes. The 1912 Big Six dispute saw him refuse to tour England; he resumed his career after the war.
He captained Australia in 1920-21 to the famous 5-0 Ashes whitewash and the 1921 Ashes (3-0 in England), retiring as the most successful Australian captain to that date. He moved into business in Melbourne and died in 1947.
An all-round tour record that confirmed Armstrong as Australia's most complete cricketer of the Edwardian era. The 2,002 runs and 130 wickets in a single English summer is one of those numbers that needs no explanation.
Armstrong is often paired with Monty Noble as Australia's two great Edwardian all-rounders. The 1905 tour double of 2,000+ runs and 100+ wickets has been matched on overseas tours only a handful of times since.
His 1920-21 Ashes whitewash of England remained the only one until Australia repeated it in 2006-07. He was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1903 and was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2000.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.