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 Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Looooooool i forgot we even had him."
9 minutes ago
The Captain replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Matt Cameron has a great approach to retention and recruitment. They PLAN for attrition and have continual succession in place for all key positions. They are never ever sitting still and are never caught short because they plan for all outcomes.
We…"
9 minutes ago
LB replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Manly are apparently set to go hard for Frank Ponissi. Imagine if they got him, dear lord don't worry about WWIII blowing up the world, Parra fans will do it instead hahaha."
10 minutes ago
Randy Handlinger replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"I have lost faith in the game as a whole. It has been turned into something that I cannot actually enjoy watching, like rugby 7's"
12 minutes ago
EA replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"That player from Wellington hasn't played a single game of SG ball lol"
15 minutes ago
Axel replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Is it possible that we can't recruit a decent GM of Football in the same manner that we can't recruit any decent players?!?! "
24 minutes ago
Mathew Clarke replied to Yeah Man's discussion RELAX
"The Eels aren't anywhere near as bad as others are making out. The season isn't won in the first 4 games, it's won in the last game.
The Eels are going to be challenged with the loss of players but they are in the hunt and that sounds good to me."
38 minutes ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Ryles is part of the R and R so without a doubt his finger prints are on the recruitment of the players no doubt in my mind here.He will have a list of players who potentially are available and it's upto that team to secure the given talent.
If you…"
44 minutes ago
Adam Magrath replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"I'm not sure if anyone else actually viewed that clip that you posted of Matt Cameron talking about the Panthers attitude towards recruitment and losing players to other clubs. I really enjoyed it and got a lot from it, I meant to thank you for…"
56 minutes ago
Muttman replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Don't forget one of those juniors (Talagi) playing for Penrith was ours and we couldn't keep him. See him outleap our FB to score a try? Like you I'm all for juniors. And we have brought through a pretty decent crop lately but it's not earth…"
1 hour ago
LB replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Lol that was gone a while back."
1 hour ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"I'm with you to a point I'm looking at other teams development and what we are producing so far and I'm far from convinced it's any better than anyone else.
I mean it was on show on the weekend who would you have Russell or Maclean 
Tuivaiti or…"
1 hour ago
Adam Magrath replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Smith, Russell, Williams, addo Carr, Tuivita, walker off the top of my head"
1 hour ago
ParramAddict replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Never had faith in MON, only have to look at the state he left the Tigers in"
1 hour ago
The Captain replied to Roy tannous's discussion Anyone else lose faith
"Keen for your take on who is delivering good value relative to their salary. I would struggle to name many to be honest.
Remember all teams have the same salary cap so our team is paid as much as the Panthers."
1 hour ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Eels ranked 14th most valuable roster in comp.
"For years."
1 hour ago
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