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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Darren Munro replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"U have tipped us some good ones EA!"
2 minutes ago
DYNASTY.LOADING replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"Incredible honestly, I feel like this Lomax business is helping keep his emergence under wraps. To be fair is what is the opposite of what I was saying about wrapping it up. "
14 minutes ago
Eli Stephens replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"Think Sua limped off for storm to, Hopefully ado carr is sweet lol "
19 minutes ago
Offside replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"Silly bloody system but we will take it.
I miss the old pre season Tooheys challenge 
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20 minutes ago
CarloEEL2 replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"It's a sign !!!!!"
21 minutes ago
HH - Love You Iongi Time! replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"Eels finish on top.
Titans missed out on the bonus point for offloads in their game. "
25 minutes ago
Mallee57 replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"Do Eels still win the $100k now that Titans best the Storm by 30 points"
26 minutes ago
TolEllts replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"That will be great! Thanks EA!"
28 minutes ago
Browny replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"Last time we won a pre season title (Auckland nines) we got the title stripped for being over the cap. Is what Melbourne saying about our cap this year correct."
28 minutes ago
Mallee57 replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"Storm lost by 30 points! Probably did it on purpose"
29 minutes ago
RustyNuts replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"Coryn, in regards to Hopgood, I think he has finally recovered from his back injury. I think he is mentally over the injury which I believe was his biggest issue last year. He also looks fitter this year, which may also come back to full recovery…"
29 minutes ago
HH - Love You Iongi Time! replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"They needed another bonus point to catch us, missed out on getting 10 offloads "
30 minutes ago
Acme replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"Apparently, we still win based on having more offloads than the Titans or something. The storm did try to screw us though"
30 minutes ago
CarloEEL2 replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"Holy hell 
that's ludicrous and should be put in disrepute in the spirit of the game "
33 minutes ago
CarloEEL2 replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
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35 minutes ago
Kurupt - Your Mums Favourite Thug replied to Blue Eel's discussion Trial #2, Game Day Blog v Roosters
"🤣 petty fuks"
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