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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Gucci replied to Snottie Pimpin's discussion Need for Speed
"When Penisini comes back, he needs to go next to JAC on the left. Russell learned so much from him, how to tackle how to position. Penisini needs more sprint training in the off season. Full pre season on the left. I think this is the only…"
7 minutes ago
Axel replied to Snottie Pimpin's discussion Need for Speed
"You can add Volkman to that comment. They're both hopeless! "
8 minutes ago
Michael W. replied to Snottie Pimpin's discussion Need for Speed
"Don't want Joash anywhere near this team unless he can cut these no look passes out of his game. Have NEVER seen one of them amount to anything. Even when he was called into the blues camp, there's a pic of him throwing a no look pass."
48 minutes ago
Desieels replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion One proud fan
"Someone should ask him why we're losing games. No more stray answers; they no longer cut it. Para is not a welfare club. Why are players making mistakes? Ask some tough questions, for God's sake."
1 hour ago
Desieels replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion One proud fan
"Not only do we want to compete now, we want to win. The days of just competing are over. Ryles has to prove he's worth it. No more hiding behind injuries. This is a contact sport, and if you don't plan for injuries, you're not a proper NRL coach. "
1 hour ago
Desieels replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion One proud fan
"NRL is a contact sport, so if you don't have a strategy to handle constraints, then you're not any good. Every year, we seem to face an injury crisis. Why? What is the fitness coach doing?
 
Are we implying we don't have a decent coach apart from…"
1 hour ago
Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion One proud fan
"I think you mean the fans who aren't making those in the club,  especially around recruitment and retention accountable.  Those so called fan sites  accepting this mediocrity are the fans you should be concerned about.
Not the fans who are…"
1 hour ago
Poppa replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion One proud fan
"Diesel, did you just arrive from the moon or something.....have a look at the injury list?
You ask the question what is our coach doing......??? Do you have some advice because your commentary is quite specific.....lets assume by the way and accept…"
1 hour ago
Poppa replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion One proud fan
"Fundamentally I agree ( I was hoping that no look pass was out of his system), I was delighted to see those two selected to play as our halves yesterday, Pezet was not the answer and his injury was a blessing.....If Volkman and Pappy could have…"
2 hours ago
Desieels replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion One proud fan
"So now the knights are the top 4 team. If we cannot beat a top 4 team, then what is our coach doing? Every season we hear this: we cannot beat Team A because they are a top 6 team, we cannot beat Team B because they are a top 4 team. When do we…"
2 hours ago
Desieels replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion One proud fan
"Totally 100%"
2 hours ago
Desieels replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion One proud fan
"The club's biggest problem is us. We accept mediocre performance and make excuses for losses. I have stopped watching NRL; I just look at the score every weekend. That is the value I place on NRL, especially our club. If they don't care about us,…"
2 hours ago
Poppa replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion One proud fan
"His line speed (or absence of) has been the big difference. I don't know about Smith in Reserve Grade yesterday....but we badly need the Smith of 2025. Its the missed tackles yesterday that killed us, the errors can be worked out, but we cannot it…"
2 hours ago
Poppa replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion One proud fan
"I keep being amazed by some of the people on here with the idea that Reserve Grade provides a benefit by getting some things right.
Unless its for disiplinary or just out of form (replacements aside) then its a waste of time.
"I would start Edwards…"
2 hours ago
Zip zip replied to Blue Eel's discussion Should we be concerned !
"Let go: Dylan Walker, Penisini, Simonsson and Joash
Must sign: Jenkins, Xerri and Burton (for no.6)
Must extend: Jack Williams and Jr (until a decent forward comes on the market)
Must sack: Sam Moa and Nathan Brown
 "
2 hours ago
Sneaky Pete replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion One proud fan
"Agreed Chiefy. Until then it's rinse and repeat"
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