badly affected by the Great War, the Australians dominated the series. Armstrong marshalled his troops well, utilising Gregory and Ted McDonald to devastating effect. Australia won the first Test in two days, the second Test by lunch on the third day and the third Test and the Ashes by 5.00 pm on the third day. Throughout the tour, Armstrong fought a series of running battles against the Board appointed manager, Syd Smith, on behalf of his men. Smith, looking to cut overheads, had suggested boarding with wealthy cricket devotees; Armstrong dismissed the idea. The fourth Test at Old Trafford was famous for two events, both involving Armstrong. The first day's play was washed out and England commenced their innings the following day, the match now a two-day affair. Lionel Tennyson, the English captain, declared his innings closed with twenty minutes of play left in the day. The Australian wicket-keeper, Sammy Carter pointed out to Armstrong that a declaration at that time in a two-day match was against the laws of cricket as they stood at that time. Armstrong protested to the umpires and England were forced to continue batting. In the commotion, Armstrong managed to bowl two overs in succession, an action also against the laws of cricket. By the fifth Test, the Australian team was in sight of being the first Australian team to remain unbeaten throughout a tour of England. Once again, much of the first day was lost to rain. Determined not to lose, Armstrong attempted to delay commencement after the rain and was heckled by English supporters. He told his three main bowlers, "I won't ask you not to get a man out, but as long as Mead (a notoriously slow scoring batsman) remains at the wicket we can't be beaten". In the last three hours of the Test, Armstrong decided to rest his key bowlers and allowed his part-time bowlers to rotate as they pleased and fielders to configure themselves. During this time, Armstrong picked up a newspaper that had been blown across the field and began to read. When asked about this later, Armstrong was said to have replied, "I wanted to see who we were playing", although this is claimed to be apocryphal. The Australians drew the Test and won the series three–nil, however they could not maintain their unbeaten record, losing by 28 runs to an English XI at Eastbourne and again