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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Parra_Greg replied to Johnny Suede's discussion Denis Fitzgerald (AKA The Emperor) enjoys a fortified
"3P man Id blocked that period Steve Sharp, Ray spagnolo, Paulo Osbourne, et al .....I remember some on here going balistic on this group lol.   wonder if Stevie picked up the tools again after.......3P was just old boys sniffing around for a payment…"
12 minutes ago
Prof. Daz replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Should we keep Kelma?
"Kelma, contracted to end of 2026? If we imagine Su'A is going to be starting right edge backrow, Tuilagi and Williams would be ranked 2 & 3 in line after Su'A? And Williams can play middle. So isn't the question really one of what is thought of as…"
16 minutes ago
Prof. Daz replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Should we keep Kelma?
"My question, JC, is whether that defensive issue is in fact fixable? By the time a player is making first grade there is a lot of footy and a lot of training, both at high level, under their belt. When do ingrained habits become unfixable?"
21 minutes ago
The Captain replied to Johnny Suede's discussion Denis Fitzgerald (AKA The Emperor) enjoys a fortified
"Fitzy needs to stop getting high on his own supply.
His tenure wasn't all roses (look at that valley in the middle there), and went for 20+ years AFTER that last drink without delivering another premiership.
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25 minutes ago
Anguillidae replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Rumour: Kodi nikorina to super league
"Pezet 2.0. No thanks."
25 minutes ago
LB replied to Trev's discussion U19 origin
"EA, you have said how much you despise Bamblett being at 6. Do you feel, or fear, the club are trying to create him as one? I mean there is plenty of time for him to learn but as you said mainly his defensive reading and ball playing is an issue.…"
25 minutes ago
Prof. Daz replied to Eli Stephens's discussion Should we keep Kelma?
"Kelma in the front row? It probably takes a unique kind of mind to either willingly run full tilt at or get in front of charging props, given the giant proportions of many props. Kelma's role has been to terrorize halves defending on the edge and he…"
25 minutes ago
Hector replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Rumour: Kodi nikorina to super league
"Being an silly old bastard i wake up some mornings look in the mirror and say who the stuff are you😳"
30 minutes ago
Poppa replied to Parra-all-the-way's discussion Rumour: Kodi nikorina to super league
"what happened to McGinty? Silly old bastard LOL"
1 hour ago
Mr Perpetual Motion replied to Trev's discussion U19 origin
"adverstised as Channel 9, Kayo & Fox
 
 "
1 hour ago
Poppa replied to Johnny Suede's discussion Denis Fitzgerald (AKA The Emperor) enjoys a fortified
"Well it was Fitzies lack of vision that made our path post 1986 such an uncomfortable journey."
1 hour ago
EA replied to Trev's discussion U19 origin
"You might as well add Bloomfield. He was selected on the wing however his school withdrew him from origin to focus on union which sucks. At least next year that won't be an issue as he will finish up with school. Just hope he picks league over union."
1 hour ago
EA replied to Trev's discussion U19 origin
"Our 2023 SG ball team won the comp and has had Talagi, Sanders, Arthur, Tuivita, Pryke, Guymer and Twiddle all make their nrl debut. That's a lot of players. However I actually think this 2026 SG ball group has more talent in them than the 2023 side…"
1 hour ago
The Badger replied to Trev's discussion U19 origin
"Koina is in the Qld team."
1 hour ago
Jack replied to Trev's discussion U19 origin
"Don't we have some in the Queensland side too?"
2 hours ago
Parra-all-the-way replied to Trev's discussion U19 origin
"Anyone know if this will be televised on kayo? Dave me the scrolling to find out :)"
2 hours ago
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U19 origin

Looks like bamblett has been called in to the blues side at 18 man with Rex falling out and possibly will be named to start come game day. We now have 4 players in the squads in Bamblett, Petrus, Ryda and Koina. Is this our best rookie class in a…

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