Ashes Third Test, Headingley

Australia lead the series 1-0 after winning the first Test at Edgbaston and drawing at Lord's.

The Aussies will be without former captain and the best batsman in the world after Steve Smith was ruled out with concussion following a Jofra Archer bouncer that struck him on the neck in his first innings at Lord's.

Marnus Labuschagne is expected to fill Smith's spot like he did at Lord's when he entered the fray as Test cricket's first ever concussion substitute where he scored an admirable 59 runs, helping to steer Australia to a draw on the final day.

It's expected that Peter Siddle will drop out of the side to allow for the return of James Pattinson who was rested for the second Test. Mitchell Starc seems destined to remain on drinks duty.

England meanwhile are expected to name an unchanged 11 although they may tinker with the make up of the batting order. Joe Root has struggled at first drop, while Jason Roy has failed to make the switch from opening in the ODI team to becoming a Test opener. Root is expected to move down to four with Joe Denly jumping into the number three position.

Many are talking about the effect of Jofra Archer's entry into Test cricket. Interestingly, his debut performance lands him as just the 312th best bowler on debut with overall figures of 5/91. He need only look across at his opponents in Pat Cummins (7/117) and Josh Hazlewood (7/142) who had better debut figures.

The Headingley pitch is rumoured to be a slow deck that will crumble and break up towards the end of the match. An interesting decision by the ground staff there given Australia's Nathan Lyon has been collecting wickets for fun and spun the English into knots in the first Test.

As always the toss will be important and Tim Paine will be hoping his luck continues. This will likely be a bat first pitch because no one will be looking to bat last on a decaying deck.

Play starts at 8pm AEST tonight so get your picture-in-picture going or set up a second screen to make sure you don't miss the first ball while watching the Eels belt the Dogs.

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TolEllts replied to Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin 🐐's discussion ‘Leaks and grandstanding’: Storm boss unloads on Eels over Lomax
"Once a cheater, always a cheater. "
48 seconds ago
Eli Stephens replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"Anasta has come out and said Pezet deal was worked after Lomax release was set to 🤣"
2 minutes ago
CarloEEL2 replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"Narcs always do 
and they are the narc team of the NRL "
9 minutes ago
CarloEEL2 replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
""
10 minutes ago
LB replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"Lol cant make this shit up. They believe they are victims to the pr..."
12 minutes ago
ParramAddict replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"Not to mention we signed Pezet a month before releasing Lomax"
19 minutes ago
Mallee57 replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"Utterly disgraceful really. Where are the days of respect, decency and doing the right thing "
36 minutes ago
macybrown replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"Haha absolutely. He has actually 'tripped' himself up a few times today one of the best ones was how he implied we needed to free up cap space to sign pezet and tried to ship Lomax off haha as if Dylbags money was not enough to sign pezet ...funny…"
39 minutes ago
macybrown replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"Well Longfin, the nrl certainly have not acted well in this case at all. Hope they've learned something about their okaying Lomax back to sign up with storm stance too. It was absolutely disgraceful form from nrl.
I noted in wording of Beach's email…"
44 minutes ago
Rabz S replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"Explains why the dope was trying to grandstand this morning.
This bitch be TRIPPing"
57 minutes ago
LB replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"There are other clubs in same boat too not just us."
1 hour ago
LB replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"If you can get a good player out of it who cares."
1 hour ago
LB replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"He can be good to be fair
Guru has his moments but is too cocky now and just sprouts rubbish."
1 hour ago
Acme replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"I searched "Denan Kemp integrity" on google and got zero results"
1 hour ago
Muttman replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"I don't listen closely to those guys but it seems a fairly unique perspective. Overwhelmingly people seem to agree that Parra's legal rights must be preserved. Even Emporer Vlandys will have to abide by the courts in this instance. He can't simply…"
1 hour ago
Parrafan101 replied to Clintorian's discussion Lomax Update - Zac Lomax entered into preliminary contracts with R360 and the Melbourne Storm prior to being given his blessing by Parramatta
"It's been us against the NRL since 23."
1 hour ago
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