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

Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin🐐 - Mark O'neill's 🪓 replied to Hell On Eels's discussion Game Day Blog R10 v Cowboys: The Townsville Graveyard
"Cowboys by 26"
3 minutes ago
Nightmare Off-Season replied to Poppa's discussion Poppa's Corner: SCAPEGOATS..... A funny thing, you can say it with a cry in your voice!......The Parra Lament
"Thanks for the detailed & respectful reply, Daz. Always great to have these conversations to try and understand an alternate perspective.
1. I do see your point here & agree, like you, feel DB did owe the Eels after ’23 & should've stayed on moral…"
11 minutes ago
Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin🐐 - Mark O'neill's 🪓 replied to Poppa's discussion Poppa's Corner: SCAPEGOATS..... A funny thing, you can say it with a cry in your voice!......The Parra Lament
"Well Adam, look at where the club is now. Its all well and good to move on, but there was no forward planning in the case where Dylan had left. Now a year and a half on, and no fan has any idea who the five-eighth will be.
Is that a good situation…"
17 minutes ago
Longfin Eel replied to Poppa's discussion Poppa's Corner: SCAPEGOATS..... A funny thing, you can say it with a cry in your voice!......The Parra Lament
"That's a pretty wide list of things to be responsible for. I'm not defending MON's record here, but I'm not sure the club got the responsibilities right here, especially considering the training facility was always going to take up a lot of time for…"
45 minutes ago
Poppa replied to Poppa's discussion Poppa's Corner: SCAPEGOATS..... A funny thing, you can say it with a cry in your voice!......The Parra Lament
"LOL, that philosophy has kept Dictators and Butchers at the head of History Tapes for God knows how many centuries Randolph.
I would prefer to at least understand what the incumbents are doing wrong, what we can learn by that and once found guilty…"
57 minutes ago
Adam Magrath replied to Poppa's discussion Poppa's Corner: SCAPEGOATS..... A funny thing, you can say it with a cry in your voice!......The Parra Lament
"I couldn't care less that he has gone. I've seen him interviewed this year and he seems happy with life at Newcastle and with the knights. He's a father and all seems to be going well. Good luck to him. He has well and truly moved on from being at…"
1 hour ago
Coryn Hughes replied to Poppa's discussion Poppa's Corner: SCAPEGOATS..... A funny thing, you can say it with a cry in your voice!......The Parra Lament
"💯 
6. Plan B - The Eels then go ahead and completely waste 250-300k (whatever it is) on Jonah Pezet, money that would’ve kept Dylan at the club. We throw away 9 years of DB’s development, his combination with Moses (who wanted Dylan at the club),…"
2 hours ago
KENDOZA replied to Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin🐐 - Mark O'neill's 🪓's discussion Huge opportunity - Parramatta Eels Head of football option
"I meant if he was ceo lol didn't read it properly"
3 hours ago
Parramanaic replied to Johnny Suede's discussion Dragons knock back bid for Su’A to join Parramatta this season
"Glad we didn't get the c**t, what a prick and coward to do such a thing to a woman...standing on her throat? Wow, what a man. Hope he gets life."
3 hours ago
LB replied to Johnny Suede's discussion Dragons knock back bid for Su’A to join Parramatta this season
"Good point, we are not condoning what he did. Just that in 2013 many here kept saying we have him coming and he hasn't arrived.........yet"
10 hours ago
The Captain replied to Johnny Suede's discussion Dragons knock back bid for Su’A to join Parramatta this season
"He's coming, he will have to Zoom into court because he's literally mid-flight on the way to Australia.
But for real, these charges were put to him years ago, I think it's surfaced again because it's finally going through court. And if he's found…"
11 hours ago
Perpetual Motion replied to Johnny Suede's discussion Dragons knock back bid for Su’A to join Parramatta this season
"So he's not coming?"
12 hours ago
Kurupt - Your Mums Favourite Thug replied to Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin🐐 - Mark O'neill's 🪓's discussion Parramatta sign Harrison Edwards immediately
"Not such a bad thing, he has trimmed down significantly after realising he has to work for a living if he can't play footy."
13 hours ago
JC replied to Johnny Suede's discussion Dragons knock back bid for Su’A to join Parramatta this season
"The long running Hock joke on this site has to officially end, he has been charged with rape and repeated assaults on a woman in the UK."
13 hours ago
LB replied to Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin🐐 - Mark O'neill's 🪓's discussion Huge opportunity - Parramatta Eels Head of football option
"Well as GM he wouldn't have authority to sack them."
14 hours ago
Prof. Daz replied to Poppa's discussion Poppa's Corner: SCAPEGOATS..... A funny thing, you can say it with a cry in your voice!......The Parra Lament
"NOS, I cannot answer all your queries but will comment on those I can. 1) Of course Brown left for $$$. Absurd to buy his PR that he didn't. But Moses rejected a giant Tigers offer back in 2023 or so, hence we know Brown chose to go, he wasn't…"
15 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: 2406

 

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