England vs Australia, 3rd Ashes Test: head-to-head and other key stats

After battling it out in two thrilling contests, the arch-rivals, England and Australia, will lock horns with each other in the third Ashes Test in Headingley, Leeds, on Thursday. The Aussies, having a 2-0 lead, will try their heart out to seal the series, the Englishmen will be desperate for their first win in the series. Talking about England, the hosts were so close yet so far from victory on both occasions. While a commendable partnership between Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon broke their heart at Edgbaston, the Aussie seamers’ resilience led to their debacle at Lord’s last week. 

English have made three changes, replacing James Anderson, Ollie Pope and Josh Tongue with Mark Wood, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes, respectively. With an elongated batting lineup, they will likely adopt an aggressive approach. But it will be interesting to see if Harry Brook justifies his number three batter’s role in Pope’s absence. 

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Meanwhile, Australia are high on confidence after two successive clinical wins against their age-old rivals. While Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith have chipped in with handy runs with the bat, the pace trio comprising Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins has given sleepless nights to the Englishmen. With Nathan Lyon ruled out of the remainder of the series, it is most likely Todd Murphy who will feature in this match. Furthermore, as it’s the 100th Test for Steve Smith, the visitors would be keen to sustain their winning run and make it a memorable game for the talismanic batter.

Pitch

The pitch at the Headingly, Leeds is generally good for batting. The ball comes nicely onto the bat and the batters can play their strokes freely right from the start of their innings. The bowlers will have to be on their toes while bowling on this surface with very short boundaries on either side. The team winning the toss will look to bat first and set a total as the pitch seems to slow down slightly in the second innings.

Head-to-Head

Total Matches – 358

Australia – 142

England – 110

Match Details:

Australia vs England, 3rd Test

Venue: Headingley, Leeds

Date & Time: 6th July June, at 3:30 PM IST

FACTS

STATS – TEST