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The historic Ashes series may offer one cause for celebration, but this series will also see the Australian team host more birthday parties than Timezone in the nineties. Recent addition Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day prior to the squad was announced. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day before the Perth Test. Beau Webster reaches 32 just before the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the final day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 by the time January is out.

Ageing Team Fascination Grows

For two or three years there has been growing fascination with the age of this team and particularly the bowling attack. It is rare to have nearly all player in a Test side being above thirty, aside from novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that greater age was a problem: a Test squad featuring a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is scarcely a weakness, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are deep into their professional lives.

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Perhaps what really highlighted the talking point is that the backup bowlers over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also well into their thirties. Younger bowlers have floated into squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Transition Forced by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the Big Four plus Boland have continued backing up. Any team knows that having a group of same-generation players might mean a group of simultaneous departures, but so far change has remained hypothetical: a train that would certainly be coming round the bend when she comes, but one that had not become visible.

Now, abruptly, change is upon them, imposed on this Australian squad in the span of a short period. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would probably only miss the first Test, was the Cricket Australia assessment, and as the first bowling change behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could comfortably be covered for by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has gone down with a hamstring strain, the balance undergoes a far greater shift with two key bowlers missing rather than a single one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two accurate right-arm bowlers give the balance and control that enables Starc’s left-arm speed and movement to be used more as a attacking option. Losing both of them means a fundamental shift in the balance of the team. Boland taking the new ball is nothing new in his first-class career, but he has been so successful in Test matches entering the attack after seven or eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll likely have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Confronts Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at thirty-one years of age himself isn't an intimidated youngster, but he might become an nervous thirty-one-year-old. A full stadium crowd, half of it English, for the opening Test of a eagerly awaited Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many newspaper profiles describe him as relaxed. He could be wheeled onto the field on a sun lounger and still be anxious.

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It's uncertain, it might all go swimmingly for this new attack. It might not work out. What is notable is how quickly Australia have moved from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. Who knows what further injuries the first Test may bring. It's unknown whether Cummins will be fit for Brisbane, and good to back up after Brisbane, given how tricky stress injuries can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be out, with a history of going down early in tournaments and a history of minor injuries turning into longer layoffs.

Outlook Unclear

The latter part of the contest may see the main four bowlers back together and all going well. Or it might see transition setting in much sooner than the long-term aim of 2027 in the UK. Not through Neser, who is apparently next in line and could be a great day-night Brisbane option, but beyond that with choices unclear. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also injured and has not yet played a Test match. Richardson has just had his injury-prone arm put back on, and this format is no place for gradually starting one’s work. After them lies the real unknown, and throughout it a chance for the opposing side. You can sense that train approaching, coming around the corner, and England ain’t seen the success since they don’t know when.