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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Bubba j replied to Roy tannous's discussion Ouch
"He would not go well over there the halves they will have playing will be a step back and playing  along side JAC has made him leaving that I can see his career going down the toilet I hope he stays myself but you can't pay overs for him either…"
6 minutes ago
Poppa replied to Poppa's discussion Two Old Men on A Jetty
"i very confident that you will be able to look after yourself, haven't i always looked after you, when  someone gangs up on you.  remember how i got you out of that shit in griffith."
6 minutes ago
Frankie Fong replied to Poppa's discussion Two Old Men on A Jetty
"Excellent point EA , Turkish Muslims are the most normal , Indians Muslims ( despite what happened Sunday) are normal, Indonesians are fairly normal apart from the Bali bombings .  Its the Arabic, African and Pakistani Muslims that always cause the…"
7 minutes ago
Yehez replied to Roy tannous's discussion Ouch
" Fair enough. I think he'll start for Perth so I can understand. If Richie P, Twidle keep improving they might be first grade ready by 2027. Let alone younger backs. Let alone signings. "
22 minutes ago
Randy Handlinger replied to Poppa's discussion Two Old Men on A Jetty
"Testify brother.
We are either the religion of our parents, which is mostly decided by geography, or you hit rock bottom and use religion as a base to rebuild your identity. No-one really just walks into a church and comes to god as an adult because…"
36 minutes ago
EA replied to Poppa's discussion Two Old Men on A Jetty
"I am in India right now. Crazy how different the average Muslim Indians are to Arabic Muslims. Very less intimidating and much more polite. I am a Catholic and in India all the people in communities are so polite to each other and nice people…"
44 minutes ago
Randy Handlinger replied to Poppa's discussion Two Old Men on A Jetty
"Fine-grained thinking about the situations others face is the path to understanding
Being able to mentally place yourself in someone elses shoes in the manner of your post is an undervalued,  difficult to aquire skill  and it seems less folks are…"
44 minutes ago
Frankie Fong replied to Poppa's discussion Two Old Men on A Jetty
"Yeah bring bring the old fella so you and Wiz don't gang up on me . "
52 minutes ago
Poppa replied to Poppa's discussion Two Old Men on A Jetty
"We could probably do better than nudgee beach lol
is it ok if i bring my new palestinian friend as well, then  we can have two wog's, Wiz and an old dope LOL "
1 hour ago
Zip zip replied to Roy tannous's discussion Ouch
"If we get Brian Kelly, I think Russell won't get many games... but if we don't, Russell will be in the centres. "
1 hour ago
Kenny Power replied to Roy tannous's discussion Ouch
"Plus we wernt in the hunt to make the semis ... if we same position on ladder next year ,, I'm sure he would do same with Russell "
1 hour ago
Frankie Fong replied to Poppa's discussion Two Old Men on A Jetty
"Pops that picture you posted of the two men fishing , I want you Wiz and to go fishing, being the wog you and Wiz will have give me a few pointers and I'll supply the alcohol. If we can make this happen then world peace has chance."
1 hour ago
Adam Magrath replied to Roy tannous's discussion Ouch
"I'm making the assumption that Russell is seeing out his contract, not exactly the same set of circumstances as Dylan Brown's departure "
1 hour ago
Blue Eel replied to Poppa's discussion Two Old Men on A Jetty
"I think sometimes about how the world turns, it was not that long ago that those that wanted to hurt us were of German and Japanese origin. Russia was an ally so too China. India was British through and through. Today Germany and Japan are some of…"
2 hours ago
Blue Eel replied to Roy tannous's discussion Ouch
"so let's take this a step further, does Russell now drop down the order like Dylan Btown did towards the end. The future is now isn't it. If Ryles wants players playing first grade that want to be here, then i feel there may be more issues around…"
2 hours ago
Randy Handlinger replied to Poppa's discussion Two Old Men on A Jetty
"I am way more scared of the incipient Autocratic Theocracy in the USA that is betraying  Ukraine (dishonoring Budapest Memorandum security assurances) and threatening it's allies and neighbours in an increasingly bellicose manner, all to the cheers…"
2 hours ago
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  Early yesterday morning, I was fishing at Nudgee Beach just off the edge of Moreton Bay, adjacent to the Brisbane River and Airport. It’s a grubby little area and is just 20 minutes from Brisbane City, so it is very accessible. It’s my release. A…

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