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 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…"
8 minutes ago
Strange-eel replied to Blue Eel's discussion Eels V Dogs 3-2-1
"To be fair, Kelly played well today.
 "
12 minutes ago
HH - Love You Iongi Time! replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"Did anything come of his wrist or arm complaint? "
35 minutes ago
HH - Love You Iongi Time! replied to Blue Eel's discussion Eels V Dogs 3-2-1
"3. Penisini
2. Paulo
1. Williams
Credit to Adam O'Brien, he certainly can not get that Dogs attack firing consistently.
We need to further improve our defence to beat Manly at Brookie. 
Great to see a game flow for once.
Solid debut from Pryke. "
36 minutes ago
Richard Jackson replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"Thats for sure Fiddy and a light weight Nathan hindmarsh in Saxon Pryke can tackle all day, whata motor."
38 minutes ago
KENDOZA replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R7 v Dogs: The M*A*S*H Unit (UPSET W38-20 WOW)
"Great win. How good was it to watch a game with stuff all 6 agains and penslties. Got home watched the replay andrew voss was pissing me off suggesting the ref let the game flow due to him getting axed weeks ago for blowing to many six agains"
40 minutes ago
BringBackSemi replied to Yeah Man's discussion Credit where credit due
"We were flat after the Tigers game so I expected a bounce back today. But I'm not getting carried away just yet. Dogs were flat after their massive game the previous week against the Riff. And the big one was the refs are clearly putting the set…"
42 minutes ago
Eelovution replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"EA, can you give us some more information on Nanva: how long has he been in the system? Local Junior? The way he plays reminds me of Shibisaki from the ponies. Big, strong and a handful."
47 minutes ago
Parra-all-the-way replied to Blue Eel's discussion Eels V Dogs 3-2-1
"Will for 3
Nanva 2 - i reckon he should keep that jersey moving forward
Jnr - 1 best game all year"
1 hour ago
Nightmare Off-Season replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"Haha... likewise, LB - must've been great at the ground."
1 hour ago
Poppa replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"My Dad passed away in 2010 and before that I would ring him every Monday morning, pretending to be Ray Price or Arthur Beetson discussing the game.....we were all in Qld since 1980 so we didn't get to watch many game unless we flew down to Sydney…"
1 hour ago
Richard Jackson replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R7 v Dogs: The M*A*S*H Unit (UPSET W38-20 WOW)
"What a team, who said they couldn't play. Chuckle. They stood up big time today and made our day.
Our forwards showed we can do this, by chopping anyone in blue and white down, inspired mainlyby De Belin, Junior, Ryley and Saxon Pryke. They were…"
1 hour ago
Fiddy replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"Nanva is the defensive centre we've been crying for..."
1 hour ago
LB replied to Blue Eel's discussion Eels V Dogs 3-2-1
"Yeah watching it shows the effort and contact we put in."
1 hour ago
LB replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"More so stoked for you NOS."
1 hour ago
LB replied to Poppa's discussion The Unicorns Strike Back
"I think Walker not starting helped set the tone. He came on fresh and our attack was a lot better. De Belin took on the brunt of the traffic early and Walker came on after 20."
1 hour ago
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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…

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