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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Eels95 replied to Muttman's discussion Barnett signs with Broncos
"It is a worry and I wanted to sign him more for the fact that I want to break through with a big name signing. 
But before we completely lose our minds. The paper is reporting it as a 2 year deal worth 1.6 mil. 800k per year with an option in…"
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Strange-eel replied to Eels2025's discussion Anyone else feeling a parramatta win tonight?
"Yeah, but not as much as I felt it last week.
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Strange-eel replied to Muttman's discussion Barnett signs with Broncos
"It seems they love a shit out of the dunny. Go have a look ay the truck stops on the hwys, it's disgusting. Guarantee a fat ozzy truckie isn't laying one on the side of the road like that."
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The Phat replied to Muttman's discussion Barnett signs with Broncos
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Bubba j replied to Muttman's discussion Barnett signs with Broncos
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Anguillidae replied to Muttman's discussion Barnett signs with Broncos
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Adam Magrath replied to Muttman's discussion Barnett signs with Broncos
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LB replied to Muttman's discussion Barnett signs with Broncos
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LB replied to Muttman's discussion Barnett signs with Broncos
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LB replied to Muttman's discussion Barnett signs with Broncos
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25 minutes ago
Anguillidae replied to Muttman's discussion Barnett signs with Broncos
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Parrafan101 replied to Eels2025's discussion Anyone else feeling a parramatta win tonight?
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Parrafan101 replied to Eels2025's discussion Anyone else feeling a parramatta win tonight?
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