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

Coryn Hughes replied to Blue Eel's discussion Eels V Dogs 3-2-1
"No 321 here I thought the whole damn team was good tonight.
When I'm listening to the presser it was like a good old BA after match speech intent chasing the contact I mean who'd have thought that's important to winning a game of rugby league.
Most…"
45 seconds ago
LB replied to Blue Eel's discussion Eels V Dogs 3-2-1
"If Su'A comes early, leave Williams on the left and put Su'A with Moses on the right.Tuilagi as impact off the bench. That is better balance for this squad."
1 hour ago
LB replied to Blue Eel's discussion Eels V Dogs 3-2-1
"Nanva with that try saver on Tracey in the first half was crucial. Also, Pryke on Xerri try saver."
1 hour ago
LB replied to Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin🐐 - Mark O'neill's 🪓's discussion The real reason why Eels won
"The button up is the wearing we lost most games. Case solved. It didn't suit him and he looked better with the polo."
1 hour ago
Offside replied to Blue Eel's discussion Eels V Dogs 3-2-1
"3. Volkman  attack anf considering what the dogs did to talingi last week huge effort
2 Pryke stepped up on debut
1 Williams sure up that left edge best 2nd rower performance all season in defence 
 
Couldn't really fault anyone "
4 hours ago
EA replied to Blue Eel's discussion Eels V Dogs 3-2-1
"I just rewatched the game. Volkman needs to be careful. He hip dropped Preston a couple times to bring him down. If Preston's stayed down he would have got penalised "
4 hours ago
Mallee57 replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"Thought Kelly was reasonably good today except for a couple of poor decisions. Nanva was very good and deserves a spot. Walker was a bit off with some stupid passes"
4 hours ago
Mallee57 replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"Poppa, So you think after 40 years of NO premiership, multiple change of coaches which have produced ZERO an extremely poor recruitment, running 2nd last on the 2026 ladder, the worst defence in the league on top of already breaking a previous held…"
4 hours ago
Yeah Man replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R7 v Dogs: The M*A*S*H Unit (UPSET W38-20 WOW)
"So who plays if Smith out?"
4 hours ago
Maj. John Reisman replied to Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin🐐 - Mark O'neill's 🪓's discussion The real reason why Eels won
"Someone tell Rylsey if you gonna wear a white shirt you gotta wear a jacket over it otherwise you look like a 15yo on work experience week "
4 hours ago
Mallee57 replied to Blue Eel's discussion Eels V Dogs 3-2-1
"3 Volkman. 2 Moses1 JAC"
4 hours ago
Hector Bob Down replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"And a shit sandwich hey😁"
5 hours ago
Hector Bob Down replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"We were very happy Randy😁"
5 hours ago
LB replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"I used to ring my dad at HT to games he didn't go to, to talk about the half. The first game i went to without i actually called him forgetting what happened.
But it is Parramatta that keeps memories alive. That is a nice little thing to mention…"
5 hours ago
Strange-eel replied to Blue Eel's discussion Eels V Dogs 3-2-1
"To be fair, Kelly played well today.
 "
5 hours ago
HH - Love You Iongi Time! replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"Did anything come of his wrist or arm complaint? "
5 hours ago
More…

Keaon done deal

As of Thursday, December 11, 2025, South Sydney Rabbitohs forwardKeaon Koloamatangi has reportedly agreed to a deal with the Parramatta Eels, but it is not yet officially announced by the clubs.  Soon to be announced.

Read more…
14 Replies · Reply by Poppa Jan 9
Views: 2340

 

The Unicorns Strike Back

If some of you people can check in your hipocracy after last week, it may be you will be able to see your own biases.Have a read of what Pro Daz said  about scapegoats. You called it well Daz and it showed up how people change given circumstances…

Read more…
62 Replies · Reply by Mallee57 4 hours ago
Views: 847

Eels V Dogs 3-2-1

3 Points - Mitch Moses Led the team around superbly, had a hand in everything, kicked for near 800m2 Points - Will Penisni  Ran hard making 7 tackle busts1 Point - Jack Williams  Topped the tackle count with only 1 miss. Played the full 80 minutes…

Read more…
39 Replies · Reply by Coryn Hughes 46 seconds ago
Views: 1260

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