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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Eli Stephens replied to Roy tannous's discussion Eels offering Jordan samrani
"I think Barnett will end up at Brisbane anyway, not too worried about it lol "
2 minutes ago
LB replied to Roy tannous's discussion Eels offering Jordan samrani
"Mmmm not sure on that. We are have very limited depth in backfield and Samrani's versatility as a Centre and Winger is important to our depth.
But also if he can play full-time FG then good on him."
11 minutes ago
Parra-all-the-way replied to Roy tannous's discussion Eels offering Jordan samrani
"id rather he stay, big fan of what jordan offers our team. seems a strange call to me"
45 minutes ago
Parrafan101 replied to Roy tannous's discussion Eels offering Jordan samrani
"Samrani is the one we can't let slip. We need to sacrifice and get rid of paulo, hopgood can stay as he shows plenty. Paulos time is up as an eel and we need to let tuivati, moretti, Teacum Brown, Ryda etc all play. Need to let go of simmo and put…"
46 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Roy tannous's discussion Eels offering Jordan samrani
"If true I like the aggressive nature of the move.
JR knows his team can't compete with the big boys in the comp he just doesn't have the talent.
Again if we get this across the line it's a win for the club and it continues the upward trend.
The key…"
47 minutes ago
Parraboy replied to Roy tannous's discussion Eels offering Jordan samrani
"Get him we need him !"
53 minutes ago
Richard Jackson replied to Roy tannous's discussion Eels offering Jordan samrani
"I want Samrani to stay, he's coming along nicely. If we were to import a new forward for 3 years, as good as he is, he'd eventually be blocking a host of young forwards coming thru. Lets reward our juniors"
55 minutes ago
Parrafan101 replied to Roy tannous's discussion Eels offering Jordan samrani
"Samrani is gun, why we getting rid of him. Get rid of paulo and hopgppd all they do is lay down in the ruck and make so many errors."
1 hour ago
Richard Jackson replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion Round 2 Team List v Brisbane Broncos
"We were coached by the ref to lose big last week.
We've bounced back plenty in our History.
We beat them last year."
1 hour ago
Offside replied to LB's discussion 1eE Modern day Eels team: Bench Props
"Junior and Reg as bench props.
But people do forget about Michael Vella at his best he was a force"
1 hour ago
Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin 🐐 replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion Round 2 Team List v Brisbane Broncos
"Still can't believe Mark O’Neill let Russell go
O'neill needs to be sacked yesterday. 
Another f up"
2 hours ago
Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin 🐐 replied to Mallee57's discussion The 50+ Statistic
"All fake news news "
2 hours ago
Mr 'BringBackFitzy' Analyst replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion Round 2 Team List v Brisbane Broncos
"I agree, so who's to blame here? The coach keeps picking him."
2 hours ago
Mallee57 replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion Round 2 Team List v Brisbane Broncos
"Eels need to unsettle the Broncos, niggle them, play unpredictable football. Pezet needs to get his act together. Penisini is rocks and diamonds. TDS has potential and is fast over short distance and can be evasive which he needs to use. Smith is…"
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Hector Bob Down replied to Mallee57's discussion The 50+ Statistic
"Here's a few more for us Chiefy . Just admit it we have been Cursed since 86 😂"
4 hours ago
EA replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion Round 2 Team List v Brisbane Broncos
"Pezet has no excuse with Russel and Fox on his outside this week."
4 hours ago
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