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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Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin 🐐 replied to Mr 'BringBackFitzy' Analyst's discussion Matterson - The gift that keeps on giving
"Super if he was very concerned about his concussion situation why has it been reported that he would have agreed to joining Melbourne if there was a guaranteed extra year as opposed to a club option. 
Braith reported last night that Matterson would…"
14 minutes ago
Kenny Power replied to LB's discussion Barnett swap for Lomax
"Looks like Barnett to broncos
and this is why our club is sticking to its guns for player trade which others in media are softening their stance 
 
no many elite players and when they are they go to clubs like broncos roosters or storm or have to do…"
14 minutes ago
Poppa replied to Mr 'BringBackFitzy' Analyst's discussion Matterson - The gift that keeps on giving
"I see no problem with his statement, shame a few others don't follow, rather than their management spitting out politically correct spoofs.
Sorry Cappy, cannot agree with your below mentioned statement.
The fact he got "likes" from media and other…"
17 minutes ago
Acme replied to Hell On Eels's discussion 1EE Launches Inaugural Podcast
"Any chance you can upload it to YouTube as well?"
18 minutes ago
Phil Mann replied to Prof. Daz's discussion Game Day Blog R1 vs Storm: Gilgamesh and the Beer Goddess
"Looking for any good sledges, rants, ditty's for my verbal arsenal tonight.  
Daz and I will march into the storm (pun intended) tonight and not hold back!!
Maybe we'll need a "go fund me" afterwards for dental work as well (win, lose or draw)"
27 minutes ago
Hell On Eels replied to Mr 'BringBackFitzy' Analyst's discussion Matterson - The gift that keeps on giving
"Super, well said. He shouldn't be blamed and his concussion and potentially CTE issues need proper consideration. Yet, as Captain noted he probably needed to seek wiser counsel in relation to his "Offical (sic) Statement". It wasn't his best work,…"
40 minutes ago
Hell On Eels replied to Hell On Eels's discussion 1EE Launches Inaugural Podcast
"We have some interesting interviews coming up.
We intially aimed to have these previews go on for around 30 minutes, but it went on longer than planned.
Let us know your thoughts."
51 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to LB's discussion Barnett swap for Lomax
"The problem with getting Barnett is the Warriors are going to want one possibly 2 players in return to release him early.So to land him as above the Warriors are going to want the same sought or type of talent that they are losing.There not just…"
52 minutes ago
The Badger replied to Mr 'BringBackFitzy' Analyst's discussion Matterson - The gift that keeps on giving
"I think you're spot on.
Melb threw it up as a last roll of the dice. We went to Matto (mgmt) with their offer. He said 2yrs guaranteed or no dice. Melb then said - no deal."
58 minutes ago
SuperEel 22 replied to Mr 'BringBackFitzy' Analyst's discussion Matterson - The gift that keeps on giving
"I find the Matto situation a fair outcome. He doesn't need to go to Melbourne. It's his decision. And both the Eels and Storm can ask him to be involved in that swap. No harm, no foul here. Especially given his current concussion struggles. I'd…"
59 minutes ago
Axel replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Braith loves us.
"I agree. That's his role on the show - to be the contrarian!But I felt his performance last night had a bit more personal stuff going on. He got a bit agitated and so did Braith. I reckon something was said at the pre show rehersal.  "
1 hour ago
Prof. Daz replied to Mr 'BringBackFitzy' Analyst's discussion Matterson - The gift that keeps on giving
"Chiefy, the tricky part here is that media speculation that Matterson was one of the cards on the table is not the same as Matterson formally being a card on the table. Hence the other way to interpret the post is that Matterson has went on record…"
1 hour ago
Prof. Daz replied to Mr 'BringBackFitzy' Analyst's discussion Matterson - The gift that keeps on giving
"Thx for posting Matto's post, Eli. That post says it all. Matto was not involved until given a fait accompli, but of course Storm-friendly media need to paint his as "stubborn". This is called "cooling out the mark", which is where the loser (Storm)…"
1 hour ago
Prof. Daz replied to Mr 'BringBackFitzy' Analyst's discussion Matterson - The gift that keeps on giving
"But, Blue Eel, according to TCT, it's been the toughest preseason ever and Matterson has trained the house down. 
Kidding, fake news, but anyway has Matto been at training?"
1 hour ago
Acme replied to LB's discussion Barnett swap for Lomax
"Braith had to stop himself from saying too much on NRL360. He was talking about how there were 6 other clubs interested back in December. For some reason, they all walked away, except the storm, who tried to sneakily sign Zac in the background, then…"
2 hours ago
Acme replied to Prof. Daz's discussion Game Day Blog R1 vs Storm: Gilgamesh and the Beer Goddess
"LOL"
2 hours ago
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