WARWICK ARMSTRONG

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22063, 20 September 1933, Page 8

WARWICK ARMSTRONG

BUSINESS VISIT TO DOMINION (Special to Daily, Times.) WELLINGTON, September 19. Mr Warwick Armstrong, who has been described as one of the three greatest allround cricketers that Australia has produced, arrived to-day by the Marama. it is the intention of Mr Armstrong, who is on a business visit, and left for the south by the ferry to-night, to remain m New Zealand for a fortnight before returning to Melbourne. Cricket in Australia, he' said, was about to begin again, and all were looking forward to a successful season. Asked if he would comment on cricket generally, and also with particular reference to his home country, Mr Armstrong replied, “ No, I am out of the game now." Mr Armstrong, who not only excelled with the bat in his cricketing days, but also with the ball and in the field, was born in 1879, and from early success as a boy of 19 years at Caulfield he rose to great heights with meteoric rapidity. The greatest part of his cticket career was spent with the Melbourne Club, for which he performed remarkable deeds. One of his feats was to make a score of 438 in a pennant match against Melbourne University in 1903-4, the highest Score ever made in pennant cricket in Victoria. Warwick Armstrong was only 19 when he first represented Victoria in 1898-99 against New Zealand, and his entry into Sheffield Shield cricket was made in the following season, when he was immediately successful. He developed rapidly into a prolific scorer and successful bowler, and for more than 20 years was responsible for prodigious feats in all classes of the game. In the tests with England he has one of the best records of successes of any Australian captain. Under his captaincy his team won all five test matches played in Australia in 1920-21, while in 1921, in England, three were won and two were drawn. It was on his return from that tour that Warwick Armstrong retired from first-clase cricket.,