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 LB's discussion Eels hooker opens up on thriving one-two punch combination
"Supereel mentioned he sees Smith as a Brandon Smith type off the bench."
7 minutes ago
LB replied to LB's discussion Eels hooker opens up on thriving one-two punch combination
"Smith's workrate is high though this year i have found he has had a few times of "what the hell was that?" where 2025 he rarely had that. Not sure if he is trying to upstage Da Silva by doing what he does?
Da Silva's passing i felt was a little…"
7 minutes ago
LB replied to LB's discussion Eels hooker opens up on thriving one-two punch combination
"Well if Da Silva is to show it, it has to be this year as a decision on Smith needs to be made sooner rather than later."
9 minutes ago
Yehez replied to LB's discussion Eels hooker opens up on thriving one-two punch combination
"Ryley as the ball 13 is interesting. Wondering if it can work out and he can be Walker's replacement while also covering the 9. "
33 minutes ago
Yehez replied to Make Parra Great Again's discussion Timoko given the tap to explore options
"I love him. That's a complete yes from me. He's worth the punt. "
36 minutes ago
Bear replied to LB's discussion Eels hooker opens up on thriving one-two punch combination
"Da Silva reminds me a little of Benny Elias. Can be selfish and looking to turn the game upside down by himself, learning to get his passing and game organisational skills in focus, should be his first priority. Yes he has pace and can sniff a "…"
38 minutes ago
Blue Eel replied to LB's discussion Eels hooker opens up on thriving one-two punch combination
"How do you get all the attributes into one player.
Rylie Smith, chases harder then anyone, does the 1%ers, tackles non stop, Rarely misses a tackle, an everready battery that is all heart. Great service, but hardly ever runs or ask questions of the…"
43 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion Round 4 Team List v Penrith Panthers
"The most dangerous thing about the Riff side no one here is talking about.
Defense wins championships Riff have held teams to nil this year and have had 10 points or something farken ridiculous scored against them we've had a 100 plus put on us in 3…"
51 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion Round 4 Team List v Penrith Panthers
"Casey Maclean would like that to lol so would Paul Alamoti the only reason why Guymer got away with it last week is because the dragon halves were inept.Not this week we are going to get ripped a new one if Guymer is stuck at centre.
Heres one for…"
54 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion Round 4 Team List v Penrith Panthers
"He does but there's too many flaws in his game to risk him now I'm not even sure he can hold up defensively round the ruck for 60 minutes that's the worrying bit for me."
1 hour ago
Coryn Hughes replied to LB's discussion Eels hooker opens up on thriving one-two punch combination
"I just need to see an improvement in his service off of both hands and passing off the deck and defensively can he stand up in the middle all while playing big minutes.Early on in his career. I forget about the splash plays and want to see the…"
1 hour ago
est_88 replied to Make Parra Great Again's discussion Timoko given the tap to explore options
"Have you seen most of our middles lol we would be close to topping the missed tackle count"
1 hour ago
Flow Basket replied to Make Parra Great Again's discussion Timoko given the tap to explore options
"No everyone needs to tackle at the eels"
1 hour ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Make Parra Great Again's discussion Timoko given the tap to explore options
"You definitely have look at him for sure he's a right sided player so there is that and it depends how they view Penisini."
1 hour ago
Clintorian replied to Make Parra Great Again's discussion Timoko given the tap to explore options
"Are they serious? Raiders must have some talent sitting under him because he's a weapon. I'd take him in a heartbeat and push him to the wing, especially if his issue is defence. He is a massive tackle buster and runs over the top of players, push…"
1 hour ago
TolEllts replied to Eels2025's discussion Where do we see the EELS finishing?
"Unless our middles improve, I don't see us making the Top 8. "
2 hours ago
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