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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Axel replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Is it possible that we can't recruit a decent GM of Football in the same manner that we can't recruit any decent players?!?! "
30 seconds ago
Mathew Clarke replied to Yeah Man's discussion RELAX
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The Eels are going to be challenged with the loss of players but they are in the hunt and that sounds good to me."
15 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Ryles is part of the R and R so without a doubt his finger prints are on the recruitment of the players no doubt in my mind here.He will have a list of players who potentially are available and it's upto that team to secure the given talent.
If you…"
20 minutes ago
Adam Magrath replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
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32 minutes ago
Muttman replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
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39 minutes ago
LB replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Lol that was gone a while back."
46 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
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I mean it was on show on the weekend who would you have Russell or Maclean 
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51 minutes ago
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52 minutes ago
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53 minutes ago
The Captain replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
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55 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Eels ranked 14th most valuable roster in comp.
"For years."
57 minutes ago
The Captain replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Eels ranked 14th most valuable roster in comp.
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We can control our recruitment if we have great recruiters. Currently we have very…"
1 hour ago
The Captain replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Eels ranked 14th most valuable roster in comp.
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1 hour ago
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1 hour ago
TolEllts replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Eels ranked 14th most valuable roster in comp.
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