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

DYNASTY.LOADING replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"I think Warriors will be interested in a theee team swap or maybe even the Knights. I wonder if Josh King is interested in heading back up to Maitland, you probably think immediately Nup Bellyache loves Kingy, but I think every good coach is happy…"
19 minutes ago
DYNASTY.LOADING replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"Yes 1000% Lomax is going to play Centre at Storm"
58 minutes ago
Blue Eel replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
" I don't think Lomax  wants  to play Wing. Its a huge huge bugbear to him and appears to be the catalyst of why he keeps leaving clubs mid contract.
 "
1 hour ago
Richard B'Stard replied to Parra_Greg's discussion Matt Burton
"Yep, there has been some amusing talk, but its all a load of bollocks innit.Dogs will offload him soon and he'll retire to a weak club that pays massive overs for him."
1 hour ago
Richard B'Stard replied to Parra_Greg's discussion Matt Burton
"All the pundits love him, which in-turn gets punters like yourself excited. Sure, he kicks big floaty bombs which is lovely, (some might say a bit of a gimmick) but has he ever really dominated a game? "
1 hour ago
Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin 🐐 replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"😝"
1 hour ago
DYNASTY.LOADING replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"I don't disagree that Williams is better on the edge than in the middle and that he is better than Blore. However I do believe that Blore is significantly better that Kelma, therefor making us better. 2 year deal means he isn't getting in the way of…"
2 hours ago
DYNASTY.LOADING replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"If we take Coates he will likely be interested in PNG in what, 2028? I don't know if we would sign him if it means 1.5 seasons then we are back where we started with a high price winger. Yes he is great but the whole point is we shifted money out of…"
2 hours ago
Coryn Hughes replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"I still can't believe the nrl are involved it's got nothing to do with them.
Its a contract dispute between Lomax and Parra firstly then Melbourne secondly.
I said this weeks ago if this goes bad for us it will be because the nrl gets involved.
This…"
2 hours ago
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"I hope we get a player who we need from storm who we want i be happy anything else make Lomax sit it out for next 4 years"
2 hours ago
LB replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"Well Cronulla want to free up cap space to keep 1-2 players for next year, using Ramien's money to front load deals. Why should Cronulla lose 2 players for nothing other than cap space? I doubt they go that far. Ramien is enough as they have two…"
2 hours ago
Bateau Bay Eel replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"Yep this is exactly the outcome that I think will happen, all monetary & no player"
3 hours ago
Blue Eel replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"I think a Storm player, Lomax and Ryan Matterson are all sleeping on their decisions tonight with answers due tomorrow."
3 hours ago
Yehez replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"Can't we get a player from Cronulla in all this?
 "
3 hours ago
Angry Eel replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"I disagree. It has to be a player that seriously adds value to our team or has serious potential to our team. I can assure Lomax is going to add a lot of value to Melbourne. Lomax sitting on the sidelines costs us diddly squat. Lomax ( A SOO and…"
3 hours ago
Adam Magrath replied to LB's discussion Eels and Storm in last minute talks before courts
"Ok same question to you as LB, who should we get and when?"
3 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: 2141

 

What's the Iongi Update?

Does anyone else find it weird that the chat on Iongi has gone very quiet? We've heard nothing from the NRL or the club directly, only through newspaper articles.May it be because the NRL don't see it as much of a serious issue? What do we think?…

Read more…
5 Replies · Reply by Acme 6 hours ago
Views: 985

Modern Day best 17

Evening everyone, how good is it having footy back.Now i want to do something different as a series. I will have surveys maybe once a day to decide who is the best player per position to create an overall top 17. Now positions like Fullback for…

Read more…
7 Replies · Reply by LB 14 hours ago
Views: 480

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