The Ashes came to life in a big way at Lord’s last week and this intriguing series continues on Thursday when England and Australia head to Leeds for the third Test match at Headingley, a potentially pivotal match in the series.
After the draw at HQ, Australia lead 1-0 heading up to Yorkshire, knowing they only need to win one of the last three Tests to retain the urn. England need to find two wins and a draw from three to get it back but at playing no lose cricket now.
England
You would have to think that had it not been for the rain at Lord’s, England would have levelled the series and made up for their poor showing at Edgbaston. It did rain though and while they came away with a little more than a moral victory, ultimately they still trail on the scoreboard, something they will be looking to put right this week. If they can do that it will set up an amazing finish to the series.
The positive thing for England from Lord’s was how well they batted when they were under pressure. Scores of 258 don’t sound much but that was a lot better than many recent scores at Lord’s. The task now is to build on that and continue to pile up the runs as we saw at Lord’s that England have the bowling attack to get through this Australian batting line up.
Australia
It was a weird second Test match from Australia given that they had taken a giant leap in the series when they won at Edgbaston. They made a horrible call at the toss which a lot more would have been made of had the Steve Smith injury not dominated the aftermath of the match, and then they never really had themselves in it apart from one partnership between Smith and Paine. The Australians will need a much better performance with the bat in this match.
If they can get that then you would think they would have the bowling resources to go pretty well in this match. England did get the upper hand on them at Lord’s but they batted in friendly conditions. Australia may well have seen the levels produced by Jofra Archer and could be out to show that anything he can do they can do as well. I expect a lot of fire from Australia with the ball here.
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Team News
England are set to go into the match unchanged assuming Jason Roy doesn’t suffer a delayed concussion from a hit to the head he took in the nets. If he doesn’t make it then Ollie Pope will replace him with Joe Denly going up to open.
Australia will be forced into one change with Steve Smith out with concussion. It appears as though Marnus Labaschagne will replace him. James Pattinson is set to return with Peter Siddle potentially missing out. Cameron Bancroft looks set for one last chance to find form.
Headingley
There have been 77 previous Test matches on this ground. England have played in 76 of them and have 33 wins to just 25 defeats with 18 draws. Australia have featured in 25 Tests at the venue with a narrow winning record of nine to eight with eight of those draws including them. This hasn’t been England’s favourite track recently though. They have lost three of their last five Tests here, including to Sri Lanka and West Indies, and lost to Sri Lanka in the World Cup here earlier in the summer.
This is generally not a ground to bat first on with the better scores tending to come in the second and third innings. You have to go back to 2012 for the last time that 400 was put up in the first dig so you would think the captain who wins the toss will bowl but in terms of the timing of the series and the amount of cricket played that might not be the best decision so it could be a decent toss to lose.
Betting
I’ll go with three bets here. I happen to think the Australian price is big even without Smith but I’ve decided against that. I like a couple of performances though with Pat Cummins once again being the first of them. I took his performance last week at 113.5 and he totalled 151 on a wicket which never really suited him. This one at Headingley should do so I’m not sure how his line has only gone up to 115.5, especially when you think there is every chance he’ll have to do extra batting in this match. He’ll cover this with six wickets which isn’t beyond him but he’s more than good enough with the bat to restrict this to only needing five. I’m happy to be on the over here.
Jofra Archer scored 112 points last week and I’m expecting him to build on that here on a pitch where the seam is going to do a lot of talking. We know he’s got the Australians on the back foot after sconing a couple of them earlier in the series and so I don’t think six wickets and a few runs is beyond him to see him cover a 125.5 point line that he has attached to him. Archer is clearly going to be a huge player in the remainder of this series and that can begin with a huge performance from him here.
Travis Head has looked Australia’s best batsman in this series aside from Smith so with the former captain out of the picture here Head looks a fair bet at 11/2 to be the top Australia batsman in the first innings. England have got the opening pair worked out and Khawaja has never really done it in England. Labaschagne looked good at Lord’s but Head did in that second innings too. There isn’t much around the former Worcestershire player so I’m happy to get on that 11/2 for the Adelaide man to top score in the first innings.
Tips
Back P.Cummins’ Performance – Over 115.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with 888sport
WON – Back J.Archer’s Performance – Over 125.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with 888sport
Back them here:
Back T.Head Top Australia 1st Inns Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 6.50 with Betfair
Back him here:
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