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The Ashes may offer a reason to cheer, but this contest will also see the Australian team host a greater number of birthdays than Timezone in the nineties. New boy Jake Weatherald had his 31st a day prior to the team was announced. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day before the Perth Test. Beau Webster reaches 32 just ahead of the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the fifth day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 before January is over.

Ageing Squad Fascination Grows

For a couple of years there has been mounting fascination with the age of this side and particularly the bowling attack. It is unusual to have nearly all player in a Test side being over 30, aside from novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that greater age was a disadvantage: a Test team featuring a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is scarcely a disadvantage, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are deep into their careers.

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Perhaps what most amplified the talking point is that the reserve players over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their thirties. Emerging pacemen have floated into squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Change Imposed by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the Big Four plus Boland have kept on backing up. Any side knows that having a batch of similarly-aged players might mean a batch of similarly-timed departures, but so far transition has remained theoretical: a process that would certainly be arriving the mountain when she comes, but one that had not become visible.

Now, abruptly, change is upon them, imposed on this Aussie team in the span of a short period. The back injury to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would likely only sit out the opening match, was the team management view, 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 team balance experiences a much more significant change with two key bowlers missing rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers give the balance and control that enables Starc’s left-arm speed and movement to be used more as a attacking option. Missing both of them means a major adjustment in the composition of the side. Boland handling the new ball is nothing new in his domestic career, but he has been so successful in Test matches entering the attack after seven or eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll likely 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 overawed 31-year-old. A packed stadium, partly English, for the opening Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many media stories describe him as relaxed. He could be brought onto the ground on a banana lounge and still be anxious.

Register to The Spin

Who knows, it might all go swimmingly for this revamped bowling lineup. It might not work out. What is notable is how quickly Australia have transitioned from the surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. It's unclear what further injuries the first Test may bring. Who knows whether Cummins will be fit for the Brisbane Test, and good to back up after that match, given how tricky stress fractures can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a history of getting injured early in series and a history of initially small injuries turning into extended absences.

Future Uncertain

The back half of the series may see the primary four bowlers back together and all going well. Or it might see transition setting in much sooner than the stretch goal of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is seemingly next in line and could be a excellent day-night Brisbane option, but beyond that with choices uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also hurt and has not yet played a Test. Richardson has just had his injury-prone arm repaired, and this level is no place for gradually starting one’s work. After them lies the true uncertainty, and throughout it a chance for the opposing side. You can sense that change approaching, rolling round the corner, and England hasn't seen the success since they can't recall when.