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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JC replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"You don't think panthers got the calls?."
5 minutes ago
JC replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"The panthers are great, there is no denying it but boy do they get every decision go their way. "
6 minutes ago
Parra_Greg replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"I keep banging on how fucked the game is ........OK in the 80s it was just us dogs and manly  ............how good is the game now ?"
2 hours ago
Parra-all-the-way replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"Maybe eels weren't so bad, didnt see tonights game, but on face value, we scored more and clearly panthers head and shoulders better than everyone. Eels might be a chance v tigers. Win that game and we back on track. Just hopefully no more injuries!"
2 hours ago
sloth replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"Yep.. I know the season is early and lots can change but don't see anyone putting up much of a fight at this rate.
Storm had 94% completion rate but still had 50 put on them wtf.
 "
2 hours ago
Yeah Man replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"Season has  ended and its April "
2 hours ago
KENDOZA replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"Penrith just do things way better then anyone else. They hardly drop the ball. One thing i've noticed is in the first 15 min they have 68 percent possesion to 32 percent the opponent. This is where they do their damage put on 20pts in the first…"
2 hours ago
Joel K replied to Roy tannous's discussion Charlie guymer extends till 2028
"MoN is doing the bare minimum 
I like the re-signings but that isn't winning a comp, sooner he goes the better"
2 hours ago
Clintorian replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"I was thinking the same, the next best team gets to be flogged by Panthers in the GF... we've already done that."
2 hours ago
Joel K replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"Yeh this is not a good year to be a top four team, this is a once in a generation team
The grand final will be a 2022 repeat"
2 hours ago
ParraPride replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"Hope the panthers start getting a losing streak soon!"
3 hours ago
Darren Munro replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"Penrith left some tries out there. Melbourne got plenty of leg ups from the ref's. Melbourne's middles look worse than ours. We have players out lol."
3 hours ago
Yobz replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"and if we beat the Tigers by 85 points we can be in 8th spot on the ladder!"
3 hours ago
Clintorian replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"It's not just that, their left side with Jenkins and McLean looks absolutely lethal at the moment."
3 hours ago
Clintorian replied to Roy tannous's discussion Charlie guymer extends till 2028
"Good to see him extend, he's a great player that's still developing and gives us a fair amount of utility value. Looks like they needed to lock him up with Doorey's recent injury."
3 hours ago
jjeel replied to Clintorian's discussion Panthers put 50 on Storm, you love to see it!
"Agree. Our form looks good"
3 hours ago
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