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

JC replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R15 v Raiders: Response or Reward?
"Pretty sure the eels have got none before. "
1 minute ago
Angry Eel replied to Kurupt - Your Mums Favourite Thug's discussion DISGRACEFUL REFEREEING AGAIN!!!
"Yeah he was pretty bad. Glad the bunker didn't pile on tonight as well"
2 minutes ago
macybrown replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R15 v Raiders: Response or Reward?
"So happy for the boys JR and all of us 💙💛...sucko to the lime green fuzball devil. Might've ended his hopes hehe. Presser will be nice all round.
Yeah hasn't Kelly turned it around on wing so much better for us. They reckon on Tele in nine years…"
2 minutes ago
TolEllts replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R15 v Raiders: Response or Reward?
"Gritty win! If we can just avoid the unneccesary errors and just complete their sets, we can string some more wins. Their fatigue came from the unforced turnovers. Hopefully they can continue with their good defence."
3 minutes ago
Adam Magrath replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R15 v Raiders: Response or Reward?
"As stated above, Brian Kelly was magnificent tonight "
3 minutes ago
JC replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Should we keep Kelma?
"He has always been good in attack, it's his defence that let's him down. The worst thing about it is it's an easy fix, it's a technique issue. He plants his feet early than leans sideways (depending which way the ball carrier goes) and only uses his…"
3 minutes ago
Angry Eel replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R15 v Raiders: Response or Reward?
"Only 1 rock tonight. Thought he was absolutely terrific. Was close to feature in my 3,2,1"
4 minutes ago
EA replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Should we keep Kelma?
"He is playing for a contract. 1 year deals is the only thing I would consider and I still lean towards no"
4 minutes ago
Johnny Suede replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Should we keep Kelma?
"For the hair alone "
4 minutes ago
EA replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R15 v Raiders: Response or Reward?
"Has any team never got a 6 agains in a nrl game?"
6 minutes ago
Yehez replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R15 v Raiders: Response or Reward?
"Great win. We are so well organised defensively, the signs of Ryles' coaching.
Just the mishandling of the ball. If we juts half the number of ball errors we have we win a lot more games. 
Quick highlights:
1. Iongi is amazing.
2. Kautoga is also…"
6 minutes ago
Angry Eel replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Should we keep Kelma?
"If he can defend like tonight then yes. "
8 minutes ago
EA replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R15 v Raiders: Response or Reward?
"3. Iongi
2. Edwards.
1. Kelma/JDB"
8 minutes ago
EA replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R15 v Raiders: Response or Reward?
"I love how these game day blogs have more comments when we lose than when we win. Shows the mindset of some on here "
9 minutes ago
JC replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R15 v Raiders: Response or Reward?
"Ziggy was a ref in the parra jnr comp when I was coaching kids in the early 2000's, he was a country mile better than any jnr ref in encountered,  tonight he was terrible. "
9 minutes ago
macybrown replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R15 v Raiders: Response or Reward?
"Hahahaha! Tried hard with lack of spotting any BnG six agains"
11 minutes ago
More…

 

3,2,1

3. Iongi That was a deadset 10/10 performance 2. Kit Kat run great lines and was physical 1. couldn't choose between Williams and Kelma. Kelma ran hard all night

Read more…
0 Replies
Views: 44

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