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The Ashes may offer one cause for celebration, but this series will also see the Australian team celebrate more birthday parties than an arcade in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his 31st a day before the squad was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day preceding the Perth Test. Beau Webster reaches 32 just before the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood becomes 35 on the final day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 before January is over.

Ageing Team Interest Grows

For two or three years there has been mounting fascination with the age of this side and especially the bowling attack. It is unusual to have almost every player near a Test team being above thirty, except for young mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that older age was a problem: a Test team featuring a four-bowler lineup with over 1,500 wickets between them is scarcely a weakness, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are well into their professional lives.

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Perhaps what really highlighted the discussion is that the reserve players over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their thirties. Emerging pacemen have floated into teams – 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 been an issue, as the core four plus Boland have kept on backing up. Any side knows that having a group of similarly-aged players might mean a batch of simultaneous retirements, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a train that would certainly be arriving the mountain when she comes, but one that had not become visible.

Now, abruptly, change is here, imposed on this Aussie team in the space of a few weeks. The spinal issue 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 gone down with a hamstring strain, the balance undergoes a far greater shift with two key bowlers absent rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two accurate right-arm bowlers give the balance and control that allows Starc’s left-arm speed and movement to be used more as a weapon of attack. Missing both of them means a major adjustment in the balance of the side. Boland handling the new ball is nothing new in his domestic career, but he has been so effective in Test matches entering the attack after seven to eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Newcomer Faces 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 nervous thirty-one-year-old. A full stadium crowd, half of it English, for the opening Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many media stories portray him as relaxed. He could be brought onto the field on a banana lounge and still be nervous.

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It's uncertain, it might all go smoothly for this new attack. It might not work out. What is notable is how quickly Australia have transitioned from the surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, and others. It's unclear what new injuries the opening match may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go for the Brisbane Test, and able to continue after Brisbane, given how complicated stress injuries can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be out, with a history of getting injured early in tournaments and a pattern of initially small injuries turning into extended absences.

Future Unclear

The back half of the contest may witness the primary four bowlers back together and all performing well. Or it might experience transition setting in much earlier than the long-term aim of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is seemingly the next option and could be a excellent day-night Brisbane choice, but after 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 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 visiting team. You can hear that train approaching, coming around the bend, and England ain’t seen the success since they can't recall when.