HOW ARMSTRONG DOES IT.

A FAULTLESS CENTURY. ENGLAND WELL-NIGH HOPELESS. <By J.E.T. m Sydney Telegraph.) _ Warwick, according to all the histories J.liave read, was known as the Kingmaker. But there is another person, misnamed Warwick, m the field— the cricket fi«l4; .... v . ' ' .. -j •-'• Hia name ia Armstrong. ' • '' ' I£ is not his fault. His parents must bo . severely censured for not seeing, m their twenty-stono son, the possibilities that he has proved are m ,lijm. He plight to have been .called jVallingford Armstrong. That would account' for his get-rich-quick propensities. Yesterday, at Sydney Cricket Ground, he was earning money at a rate, a millionaire, or the purveyor of carpet tacks in^ilie ,piay, knows nothing about. An enterprising firm offer•ed a ttorin for-everj* four hit. In ten minutes "Wallingford" Armstrong earned as many shillings.. He v^as; earning well over £8000' a year—excluding '• Sundays,' and working only .eight hours/ a/ day.'. The English fieldsmen were probably earning thrice that amount. Their hands were sore. And the sum total of if all ,was\'. tbat .. when, precisely^, at . 5 6'dlbck', Hobbs and Russell went to the wickets, England wattte^ IG$% #<> yfii£ • > Armstrong had played one of the greatest test match innings, of aH'timci His total was 158, and until* m tired fashion, he hit over a ball from Parkin, he did not give the semblance, of a chance. How he did hit. He made the bowling ' look foolish. He backed up that English critic who wanted to know why Douglas, was not playing , Parkin, and gwhether Parkin was, armed with ' a strong pair of binoculars, trying to. find out. Armstrong's weaknesses from the pavilion. The, critic may bo confounded to .the extent thatl Parkin got Armstrong, but the , point is that at the time he got him 'it. did not matter, and the /Australian captain was! hitting anything. Armstrong's forte is his driving. The field knows all about that.. But, ho displayed uncanny.. '^skilf m his placing. When he rcould not' 'find a loophole— well .he simply hit it • through tho man. It was a masterly inning's, and coming upon his remarkable handling of his bowling and* fielding ranked him 'with Noble, greatest of all captains. . Armstrong has been credited m some .quarters with vacillation. He has shown none of it m this match; -as a mat-tor • of ', fact^hj? .does not seem to have- any to show. Shrewdly it is suspected that he recognised he had made a mistake m. .putting that-l ikely run-getter — and irreplacable bowlersGregory, too low down on, the ljsfc, and that Gregory,'© rnn-out was all a i^ißrt' of the business. It looked that way,; Never have I seen a man; imnout so; happy\about it. Gregory was laughing like a schoolboy who knows the master is watching: him. There was suppressed amusement . iii ©very line of* his countenance as he caih^. hack U> the. pavilion with a "duck" lined up opposite his name. ''.•', „ ■'..;'•'. Armstrong's influence ofi Kelleway "was astonishing. He spe6ded L liim up so that the first half-hour saw the run-a-minMte gait exceeded, and 50 were scored m 38 minutes. But Kelleway cannot force the pace, 'and was quickly over-run by Amir strong. The fielding was .more or less demoralised. Five, all run out — an extraordinary happening m a test match-^ were run. on an overthrow, and a Tew minutes later three Sverb run for a similar indiscretion. The first hour produced 84 runs, ( and th,e fourth century. • ;<r> Douglas whirled "his '.■ bowlers about, m weird fashion. Altogether he made over 30 changes during the 'innings.,. But .he could not hold the' batsmen. .Armstrong made 56 while Kelleway added 26, and at luncheon there were 437 runs on the board, and 105 had been auned m? 98 minutes. This was the champagne of cricket. By 3 o'clock there were 50Q >howr ing for the loss of ' five wicketsfH,: Armstrong was hitting at ,eve ( rythjrtg,ottnd successfully. Kelleway tried to kalpVpaco with, him, and paid the- penalty of mi.shitting WooMey and being siriiply catight m the slips. Ryder ridiculously rnn himself out, and Gregory also. But for all that 108 rilns.were scored. in 190 minutes after the luncheon interval, and at teatime- the Englishmen were 641 behind. Tho total - then was 564, and quickly it became known that another 26 would give Australia a tost watch record. The highest score before- was 589 by England m the fourth tost of., the 1912 'tour afc Melbourne. One other jjroat score, by A\\st.ralia against (England, was ijeca^led-^586. That was the day Syd*. Gregory got 201 and Australia was beaten by ten runs. The year was '94. i - The Australians' innings did «npt . last much Jonger. It was a case of get runs or get out, A7»d when at 5' p.m. Hobbs and Russelt cftmo to the wickets they had the handsome', nob to »ay impossible, task 0f. .659 confronting them. It, hasn't been done before, and it isn't* very likely to bo done this time. Hugh Trinnble. says that the English

te.am is not as strong iii batting or m bowling as many others have been. And he is a good jndgo,— none better. And we kflow tho Lion thisiiine has a longor tail than usual. , • • .;.,■ " ' Everybody was sorry', for Russell. IJo stal'ted. with ar/brill^^'lcg^.ftlaueo . oft 1 Kolleway, but m Gregory's first :■! over "Hahr's that?" was roared on all sfdes, and ho was but, caught afc the wickets. Nothing else need be said of the play, except that, llobbs arid Hearne, m stolid fashion, ; played out" time. , . : And now England, with nine wickets to fall, wants 612 to win! . ..'.... This match, as a ; record-break<*r m many ways, but the keenest regret irittet be felt that wo did not break tho innings record. There was no reason why it should not j have been, .done, unless it is that Arm-; strong, m his zealfor v^trategyr— and no] one quarrels wi|:.h-.]iim',-on. that score — j forgot that we were so near it. How- X ever, 'tis done.- And there's "an end on't." j