The Australian cricket team captained by Warwick Armstrong becomes the first team to complete a whitewash of The Ashes, something that would not be repeated for 86 years.
Warwick Windridge Armstrong (22 May 1879 13 July 1947) was an Australian cricketer who played 50 Test matches between 1902 and 1921. An all-rounder, he captained Australia in ten Test matches between 1920 and 1921, and was undefeated, winning eight Tests and drawing two. Armstrong was captain of the 192021 Australian team which defeated the touring English 50: one of only three teams to win an Ashes series in a whitewash. In a Test career interrupted by the First World War, he scored 2,863 runs at an average of 38.68, including six centuries, and took 87 wickets. He was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2000.
Armstrong was a large man (6 foot 3 inches 1.9 m tall and 21 stone 133 kg or 294 lb) and was known as the "Big Ship". He was not a stylish batsman but his strokeplay was effective, with a sound defence and temperament. He bowled leg spin with a gentle action and while not a big turner of the ball, he relied on accuracy to dismiss opponents. He made his Test debut in 1902 against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and was selected to tour England later that year where he was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. That was the first of four tours of England. He was involved in several altercations with cricket administrators and was one of the "Big Six" who boycotted the 1912 Triangular Tournament in England after a dispute with the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket.
A talented Australian rules footballer, Armstrong briefly represented South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League before playing Test cricket. For much of his cricket career he was employed as a pavilion clerk by the Melbourne Cricket Club, who allowed him time off to play cricket. Following his retirement from Test and first-class cricket after the successful 1921 tour of England, Armstrong took a position as an agent for a scotch whisky distributor and wrote on cricket for the Sydney Evening News.
The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, participating in both the first ODI, against England in the 1970–71 season and the first T20I, against New Zealand in the 2004–05 season, winning both games. The team draws its players from teams playing in the Australian domestic competitions – the Sheffield Shield, the Australian domestic limited-overs cricket tournament and the Big Bash League.
The national team has played 842 Test matches, winning 399, losing 226, drawing 215 and tying 2. As of January 2021, Australia is ranked third in the ICC Test Championship on 113 rating points. Australia is the most successful team in Test cricket history, in terms of overall wins, win–loss ratio and wins percentage.
Test rivalries include The Ashes (with England), The Border-Gavaskar Trophy (with India), the Frank Worrell Trophy (with the West Indies), the Trans-Tasman Trophy (with New Zealand), and with South Africa.
The team has played 958 ODI matches, winning 581, losing 334, tying 9 and with 34 ending in a no-result. As of January 2021, Australia is ranked fourth in the ICC ODI Championship on 111 rating points, though have been ranked first for 141 of 185 months since its introduction in 2002. Australia is the most successful team in ODI cricket history, winning more than 60 per cent of their matches, with a record seven World Cup final appearances (1975, 1987, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015) and have won the World Cup a record five times: 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015. Australia is the first (and only) team to appear in four consecutive World Cup finals (1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007), surpassing the old record of three consecutive World Cup appearances by the West Indies (1975, 1979 and 1983) and the first and only team to win 3 consecutive World Cups (1999, 2003 and 2007). The team was undefeated in 34 consecutive World Cup matches until the 2011 Cricket World Cup where Pakistan beat them by 4 wickets in the Group stage. It is also the second team to win a World Cup (2015) on home soil, after India (2011). Australia have also won the ICC Champions Trophy twice (2006 and 2009) making them the first and the only team to become back to back winners in the Champions Trophy tournaments. As of 2021, Australia is the only team to win five Cricket World Cups; no other team has won more than two.
The national team has played 158 Twenty20 International matches, winning 82, losing 70, tying 3 and with 3 ending in a no-result. As of November 2021, Australia is ranked sixth in the ICC T20I Championship on 246 rating points. Australia are the reigning ICC Men's T20 World Cup champions, defeating New Zealand in the 2021 final to claim their first T20 World Cup title.
On 12 January 2019, Australia won the first ODI against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground by 34 runs, to record their 1,000th win in international cricket.