[5] In 1926, he was taken on to the county staff and though he made only one score of more than 50, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack noted that "he did sufficient to suggest that for him the future has considerable possibilities".

[6] A year later, Wisden was able to report that "Armstrong so fully realised the promise given during his first season with the county that he added 500 runs to his aggregate, and ten to his average, besides getting his first 100 and exceeding the 1,000 in all matches".

"[11] A later comment in his Wisden obituary reflects in part Armstrong's later role at Leicestershire, when runs were scarce and the money to buy new batsmen was not available.

Observing that Armstrong had benefited from Hayes' coaching, it wrote: "His defence, later to become rock-like, was tightened up, but wisely no attempt was made to interfere with his highly idiosyncratic array of scoring strokes on the leg side, of which the most telling was a species of short-arm hook in front of square.

For the rest of his runs he relied on a variety of pushes, nudges and prods, executed at the last minute just as the frustrated bowler thought he had broken through.

"[5] His obituary in Wisden concluded: "Owing to his inflexible determination at the crease, and the frequency with which he rescued a lost cause in a weak batting side, he came to be known as 'the Valiant Armstrong'."