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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LB replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
"And yet he didn't talk to Matty for months for doing that same thing. All Matty did was praise QLD and their team and Matty refused to talk to him for a long time time.
 "
24 minutes ago
LB replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
"And Ponga's was not? Not saying that to you Sloth, to the NRL."
26 minutes ago
KENDOZA replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
"Its true ponga grade 2. Only a fine"
1 hour ago
sloth replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
"Yeah no one really gets bans from origin now. Suaalii's was a special case cos it was deemed reckless since he launched himself and left the ground."
1 hour ago
KENDOZA replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
"I tell you andrew johns is the biggest arse kisser he was questioning everything against qld."
1 hour ago
Mallee57 replied to Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin's discussion SACK LARIE DALEY
"Agree "
1 hour ago
Mallee57 replied to Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin's discussion SACK LARIE DALEY
"Exactly dead rubbers = less $$$"
1 hour ago
fake midget pseudoachondroplasia replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
"It was grade 2 so normally a suspension but I read this online
In 2022, the NRL changed the judicial process for representative matches. It means players can only receive bans for offences that are grade three or higher.” Via @foxleague //…"
1 hour ago
Mallee57 replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
"Is that actually fair dinkum? Or just a photo shop "
1 hour ago
Mallee57 replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
"No they'll let him play and use the excuse that Origin matches don't affect NRL matches"
1 hour ago
LB replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
"Saifiti was always going to back-up, he was going to get limited minutes. Though shows what a joke of a selection it was to start with. Haas will be in for him now anyway."
1 hour ago
LB replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
"I think the issue many see is sin bin v send off. Many do not argue against a sin bin it is send off that is the problem. Now the debate is about head clash or shoulder to head. No rapping of the arm and shoulder did contact the head."
1 hour ago
Joel K replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
"Poor Eels, they probably thought Saifiti and Ponga would miss our game and now they both will back up"
1 hour ago
LB replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
"Ok now that is a joke. Suaali'i got 4 weeks for his hit. So pretty much undermines Klein as well for calling a send off.
But Hopoate accidentally makes contact with ref and gets a week?"
1 hour ago
Poupou Escobar replied to Angry Eel's discussion Hypothetical Question
"What 'irrecoverable injury' did Watmough have when we signed him Poppa? he played Origin plus 20 NRL games the year before coming to Parra. In fact, those 20 games were the ninth straight year he played 20+ games. He even played 17 games for us.…"
1 hour ago
Rabz S replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Does ponga now miss weeks?
""
1 hour ago
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