The changes Australia must make for the third Ashes Test

1. Usman Khawaja. 2. Markus Harris. 3. Marnus labuschagne. 4. David Warner. 5. Travis Head. 6. Mathew Wade. 7. Tim Paine. 8. Pat Cummins. 9. Michelle Starc. 10. James Patterson 11. Nathan Lyon. 12. Peter Sidle A daring pic but if they can win this one thats basically an ashes win!

I think Pattinson in unless they go seeking retribution for Archers bowling with starc. Risky as starc has been hit for a lot of runs up north traditionally . London was a chance to play him and include a laba as fifth but I had a feeling theres no way they'd drop wade after the first test and he performed as I expected he would there

sadly i agree. they won't change anything. maybe starc or pattinson for siddle. warner should be gone and wade/usi should consider themselves lucky that we are very ordinary in the batting dept at the moment.

Appredciatre your trying to move the order around at least michael. Wade doesn’t look good to me on these pitches unless its extremely flat pitch or heading that way . Paines been pretty dreadful with the bat let alone his captaincy decisions/referreals. Bancroft technique looks officially poor. Warners the worst of the lot of them. With smith out now for third, I doubt they will make many changes actually at least laba in is a result. He’s doing well , almost saved the last test on his own . Head needs to concentrate he’s got the talent but has lapses and they can get him lbw . Wade technique looks extremely succeptible in england with archer now playing with pace and leech leg spin

Doubt they will make many changes with the batting. they all get their chances now but any big fails in this test is a sure fire red card for bancroft, Warner and probably Wade as manchester usually darts around

pommies are now 4/6 to win the test. amazing what one player can do to a market. that is what we call a market mover!! a huge whale!!

yep about 2 hours ago it was announced on the beeb. the pommies are now fav for me.

Damm smith has just been ruled out 3rd test . Great

pierro i like a lot of what you say. paine stays though till end of the series, unless there is a huge calamity in this test starting thurs.

Alternatively, if you’re a sadist, bring Mitch Marsh in for Wade and bolster the bowling attack. didn't know i was a sadist but i guess i can be!

1. Harris 2. Paine 3. Khawaja 4. Warner 5. Head 6. Labuschagne 7. Wade 8. Cummins 9. Starc 10. Lyon 11. Hazelwood I know it’s not going to happen, but I’d send Paine in up the order to open. He has good defence and I’ll be telling him to play time and not the pull shot! If he’s too tired to keep Wade can do it :lol: Warner is our best batsman so is coming in at 4. It’s not working where he is now, so protect him and let him come in when the ball is older. Obviously Bancroft is gone. So Harris back to open. Batting down to Wade at 7 should give us a decent chance of not getting wiped out for a low score. Starc, Hazelwood, Cummins and Lyon is the best balanced attack. You have pace in Starc. Seam and control from Hazelwood. All round ability from Cummins and Lyon for spin. Alternatively, if you’re a sadist, bring Mitch Marsh in for Wade and bolster the bowling attack.

Labaschagne in Its Warner., Wade or Bancroft with the poor techniques for the most part. Id consider Wade out actually . He's been poor outside of the flat deck where he made the runs and was very lucky not to be out before 40s .His teqnique doesn't hold up very well in england unless the pitch is a flat deck or drying out. Leg spin troubles him to and leech is in now Warner/Bancroft last chance and this is assuming Smith is playing , he may not Pattinson in. Siddle probably out. We can now bowl two spinners if laba in Starc out . He's a risk on green decks up north has never returned any decent figures outside of lords/oval. I think they missed a beat not bowling him at lords and including laba at start of the match as the back up fifth bowler for starcs shorter spell. Starc possibly in for the Oval for me he could go well on the flatter deck there as long as five bowlers play to counter his shorter stints. They won't drop Paine but his captaincy has been less than impressive with so many poor decisions and poor with the bat too . Alex Carey could play now for me especially if we have wade still there. Unlikely if Smith is out

Well Smithy is out. I reckon they will keep the XI as is after Marnie was subbed in.

Just a few thoughts: Firstly, has anyone thought about opening with Khawaja and moving Warner into the middle order? There's some logic to it - 1. Warner has been found to be susceptible to the moving ball, we need to protect him as his eye is failing him on seaming pitches 2. With Smith confirmed to be out, and Marnus assumedly in, our middle order is pretty bare as far as experience is concerned; with Warner now our best bat, it'd make sense to bat him 4 3. Khawaja has played some of his best innings as an opener: the match-saving hundred against Pakistan last year; his century under lights in Adelaide a few years back 4. Usman has essentially been batting as an opener so quickly have Bancroft and Warner been dismissed, meaning he has had by far the most exposure to the swinging ball out of all our batsman I don't understand the anti-Paine bandwagon either. He's by far the best keeper in Australia and is the only feasible captaincy option we have. You don't pick your keeper based on batting, and you don't pick your captain based on how well he uses his reviews. If our top order wasn't so poor we wouldn't need him for runs, and if the officiating was so awful we wouldn't need to rely on DRS.

I too am really p****ed off, but I think Mr Archer might cop a dose of his own medicine, not specifically as revenge for hitting Smith but as the best way to get him out. IMO, he looked uncomfortable in his first innings when the ball was pitched at him and I suspect, like Broad, if he had to face up to a fired up Starc or Pattinson he'd be doing a Broad and playing from some distance outside leg stump. For their top 6, no need to get carried away, line and length will do the job, but for the bottom 5, it's clearly game on.

Don't think Maxi is even in the squad. Was noted that Cummins bowled quite a few overs in the second innings at Lords, I suspect he might be due for a rest and Patto/Starc in for he and Siddle at Headingley.

If that’s the case then he should not be available for selection for this test. Where are you getting your info?

It is a confirmed concussion, whether hit on neck or elsewhere. Concussions usually take min. 7 days to recover though long term damage may still be there. That Smith was allowed back on the ground after being struck, all the while CA bragged about their cutting edge concussion procedures. It sadly would not be surprising if these cutting edge procedures were laxed a second time.

drop Warner, Bancroft, Paine and Siddle Replace with Pattinson, Maxwell , Harris and Burns ( Wade to Keep or Handscomb to replace Wade and keep)

If Smith is out, play for the draw! Strengthen the batting and make Archer work as hard as possible. 1. Warner 2. Bancroft 3. Khawaja 4. Labuschagne (spin) 5. Head 6. Wade 7. Paine 8. Marsh (bowling allrounder) 9. Neser (bowling allrounder) 10. Pattinson 11. Starc. Lots of bowling options too! Rest Cummins (batting ave 20) and Lyon.