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.

You need to be a member of 1Eyed Eel to add comments!

Join 1Eyed Eel

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Latest comments

Snottie Pimpin replied to Joel K's discussion Club to take up De Belin option
"I think the celebrated Guymer retention is way worse than the DeBelin option being taken up. 
At least DeBelin is a pro who can lead the young blokes in regards to preperation and do a job for you at a pinch. Guymer is a 21 year old not athletic…"
27 minutes ago
LB replied to Joel K's discussion Club to take up De Belin option
"Now I feel worse as it seems I'm too predictable haha"
34 minutes ago
Adam Magrath replied to Joel K's discussion Club to take up De Belin option
"No need, my wife just asked what I was laughing at. I told her I'm just stirring this bloke on 1Eyedeel who'll take the bait hook, line and sinker."
41 minutes ago
LB replied to Joel K's discussion Club to take up De Belin option
"Shit Adam, sorry about that. I apologise for my approach."
45 minutes ago
DYNASTY.LOADING replied to Joel K's discussion Club to take up De Belin option
"This club is taking the piss out of its fans. "
46 minutes ago
Adam Magrath replied to Joel K's discussion Club to take up De Belin option
"Lol, I'm winding you up LB. "
51 minutes ago
LB replied to Joel K's discussion Club to take up De Belin option
"Since when? I do not even remember debating de Belin with you. The only time in the past you and i disagreed was when you said he was not dropped at all it was just he didn't want to play against the Dragons. Where he didn't play against Penrith and…"
58 minutes ago
Snottie Pimpin replied to Snottie Pimpin's discussion Need for Speed
"Raiders , Warriors , Dolphins, knights, Cowboys Tigers, etc .. a clear way of developing and recruiting. It's the way the game is headed.  I worry watching us and our lower grades we seem to always have strong , stocky outside backs and workman like…"
1 hour ago
Snottie Pimpin replied to Snottie Pimpin's discussion Need for Speed
"We tried that with Will last year . He was dreadful and had to be moved back to the right.
Aside from speed this team needs a serious injection of footy IQ. Fox is one of the smartest wingers going and it shows . Conversely Penisni and Russell are…"
1 hour ago
Colin Good replied to Joel K's discussion Club to take up De Belin option
"Without Debelin yesterday we would have got a belten , he tackled his heart out "
1 hour ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Snottie Pimpin's discussion Need for Speed
"Tell you what would we die for the athleticism of the Raiders they've got explosive athletic talent all over there team.
4 bookend props explosive edge players leg speed at hooker speed to burn in the outside backs that's exactly the type of…"
1 hour ago
Perpetual Motion replied to Snottie Pimpin's discussion Need for Speed
"I said I hope he is just under done but Ive seen enough to know he wont be elite. The guy is still getting his hundreds of thousands a season so I dont think he gives a crap about what any of us think. He has never understood  defensive positioning…"
1 hour ago
Adam Magrath replied to Joel K's discussion Club to take up De Belin option
"You and I have had opposing views on DeBelin all year, it's ok to admit you're wrong "
1 hour ago
LB replied to Joel K's discussion Club to take up De Belin option
"He hasn't been god awful, but not great either. We have plenty of him we can get better. If he wasn't starting then ok but the fact he is starting the chance is he will next year too is worrying now."
2 hours ago
Adam Magrath replied to Joel K's discussion Club to take up De Belin option
"Exactly, and he's not costing us much. We need players such as him in our roster. "
2 hours ago
Mallee57 replied to Joel K's discussion Club to take up De Belin option
"De Beliin has actually been good. He's a very good defender and a workhorse"
2 hours ago
More…

Remember Rodney Hogg

Rodney was a late arrival to Test cricket at age 27. Born in Victoria he was overlooked by state selectors and moved to Adelaide to find an earlier path to Shield.He was selected and within a year he was noticed by Alan Davidson who mentioned his…

Read more…
6 Replies · Reply by Poppa on Wednesday
Views: 234

 

Eels Next Match vs Bulldogs

I've noticed some comments from Bulldogs coach Ciraldo that he's not very happy with the refereeing/bunker calls made yesterday in his team's loss to the West Tigers.Not too sure if his concerns are justified or not! As I've not actually watched the…

Read more…
5 Replies · Reply by Mallee57 2 hours ago
Views: 200

<script src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
<!-- Sidebar -->
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<script>// <![CDATA[
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
// ]]></script>