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The historic Ashes series could provide one cause for celebration, but this series will also see the Australian team celebrate a greater number of birthdays than an arcade in the nineties. New boy Jake Weatherald had his thirty-first birthday a day prior to the team was named. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day preceding the Perth Test. Beau Webster turns 32 just ahead of the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood becomes 35 on the fifth day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 before January is out.

Ageing Team Fascination Grows

For a couple of years there has been growing curiosity with the average age of this team and especially the bowling unit. It is unusual to have almost every player near a Test side being above thirty, except for young mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that older age was a disadvantage: a Test squad featuring a four-man attack with over 1,500 wickets between them is hardly a weakness, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are deep into their careers.

I've never felt this sure at the start of an away Ashes series | a former player

Perhaps what really highlighted the discussion is that the backup bowlers over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also well into their thirties. Emerging pacemen have briefly joined squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injury, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Transition Forced by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the core four plus Boland have continued performing. Any side knows that having a batch of same-generation players might mean a batch of similarly-timed departures, but so far transition has remained theoretical: a train that would indeed be arriving the bend when she comes, but one that had not steamed into view.

Now, abruptly, change is upon them, imposed on this Australian squad in the space of a few weeks. The back injury to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would likely only miss the opening match, was the Cricket Australia assessment, and as the first-change bowler behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could comfortably be replaced by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, the balance undergoes a far greater change with two players absent rather than a single one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two accurate right-arm bowlers give the stability and precision that allows Starc’s left-arm pace and swing to be used more as a weapon of attack. Missing both of them means a fundamental shift in the composition of the side. Boland taking the new ball is not unusual in his first-class career, but he has been so successful in Tests entering the attack after seven or eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Confronts Pressure

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at thirty-one years of age himself won’t be an intimidated youngster, but he might become an overawed 31-year-old. A packed stadium, 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 ground on a banana lounge and still be nervous.

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Who knows, it might all go swimmingly for this new attack. It might not. What is striking is how quickly Australia have moved from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, and others. Who knows what further injuries the opening match may cause. It's unknown whether Cummins will be good to go for the Brisbane Test, and good to back up after Brisbane, given how tricky stress fractures can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be out, with a history of going down early in series and a pattern of initially small injuries becoming longer layoffs.

Future Uncertain

The back half of the series may witness the primary four bowlers back together and all going well. Or it might see transition beginning much earlier than the long-term aim of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is apparently next in line and could be a great pink-ball Brisbane option, but beyond that with choices uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also hurt and has never played a Test. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm put back on, and this level is no place for gradually starting one’s work. Beyond them lies the real unknown, and throughout it a chance for the opposing side. You can hear that change approaching, rolling round the corner, and England hasn't seen the sunshine since they don’t know when.