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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Coryn Hughes replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"Well I'd be starting at village tournaments in Fiji for a start.
Thats where you find the next Semi Radradra..
I mentioned a month ago that there was a world U/18s 7s tournament here in NZ do you think Parra had a scout here I doubt it I know for a…"
39 minutes ago
TolEllts replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"Unfortunately Macy, it seems those objectives are not in the Eels R&R DNA basing on experience and the players we have let go. An example is we are requesting Melbourne for Utoikamanu for Lomax when he was a born and breed Parra junior but was let…"
1 hour ago
LB replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"One silver lining is a few spots would be taken up from PNG players.
But did anyone hear the arrogance of Chammas saying clubs shouldn't complain as PNG being successful is good for the game. Absolute smugness."
1 hour ago
fake midget pseudoachondroplasia replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"The talent scouts for all clubs attend the same league, rugby and 7 tournaments. We identified Dylan brown and bought him over from NZ as a teenager and we have some kids from the bush in our pathways and NRL. I remember eels signing a talked about…"
1 hour ago
EA replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"Yea Petrus if he stays with the club."
2 hours ago
Yehez replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"No need to keep Williams beyond his current contract."
2 hours ago
fake midget pseudoachondroplasia replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"This is just the start.  Lots of agents have timed contracts with PNG entering to use them and increased money on offer to drive up contract values. Penrith have a heap of massive names off contract in 2028. I think it will be the biggest year in…"
2 hours ago
Poppa replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"Yes, that is true EA and possibly (I certainly dont know) a reason for Stephano not carrying through his potential with us."
2 hours ago
LB replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"We have Su'A til 2029 so only need one back-rower but surely it's Petrus. He could debut this year."
2 hours ago
EA replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"One thing to consider with Stefano was that his brother was medically retired due to an injury on the field and I am pretty sure the club and his family had some disagreements over insurances or money. So we kind of pissed them off lol"
3 hours ago
EA replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"Petrus could easily be ready for the NRL next year in 2027. Don't need to look at 2028. As you said, sometimes we won't be able to do anything to keep him because we can't give him the money or honour of representing his heritage. But if we are…"
3 hours ago
EA replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion Round 9 Team List v New Zealand Warriors
"well he won't be fit till next year since it's acl but yes he has lots of potential but injuries are preventing him from reaching it"
3 hours ago
SuperEel 22 replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"The first thing the PNG team did before anything else was pinch Joey Grima from us. He's a development pathways expert and has been with them since 2023."
3 hours ago
LB replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"I believe I heard that the PNG PM wanted at least 30-40% of the squad to be PNG players. Could be wrong but that was a big thing he asked for and it makes sense."
3 hours ago
LB replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"But after 10 years, if a new government, then we will see what happens."
3 hours ago
LB replied to Pato's discussion Jack Williams
"I have private health and it was brainwashed into me by my parents. Glad my wife and I have it. With both us having surgery and when little one was born we spent the week in the hospital as wife had some issues after and I was able to stay the whole…"
3 hours ago
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