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The Ashes could provide a reason to cheer, but this contest will also witness the Australian team celebrate more birthday parties than Timezone in the nineties. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his 31st a day prior to the team was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Test in Perth. 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 Interest Grows

For a couple of years there has been growing curiosity with the age of this team and especially the bowling attack. It is rare to have almost every player near a Test team being over 30, except for young mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that greater age was a disadvantage: a Test squad featuring a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is scarcely a disadvantage, and it stands to reason that all of those bowlers are well into their professional lives.

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Perhaps what most amplified the talking point is that the backup bowlers over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep 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 kept on performing. Any team knows that having a group of same-generation players might mean a group of similarly-timed retirements, but so far change has remained hypothetical: a process that would indeed be coming round the bend when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet steamed into view.

Now, abruptly, change is upon them, forced upon this Australian squad in the span of a few weeks. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would likely only sit out the first Test, was the team management assessment, and as the first-change bowler behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could comfortably be covered for by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, the balance experiences a much more significant shift with two players 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 pace and swing to be used more as a attacking option. Missing both of them means a fundamental shift in the composition of the side. Boland taking the new ball is not unusual in his domestic career, but he has been so effective in Tests coming on after seven to eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll likely have to be the opening bowler.

Newcomer Confronts Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at 31 years old himself isn't an overawed youth, but he might become an overawed 31-year-old. A full stadium crowd, partly English, for the first Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an simple first match, no matter how many media stories describe him as laid-back. He could be brought onto the ground on a sun lounger and still be nervous.

Register to The Spin

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 surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, and others. It's unclear what further injuries the first Test may bring. It's unknown whether Cummins will be good to go for the Brisbane Test, and able to continue after Brisbane, given how complicated stress injuries can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be out, with a track record of getting injured early in tournaments and a history of initially small injuries turning into longer layoffs.

Future Unclear

The latter part of the series may witness the primary four bowlers back together and all performing well. Or it might see transition setting in much earlier 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 choice, but beyond that with options uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also hurt and has never played a Test. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm repaired, and this level is not the place for easing into one’s work. After them lies the true uncertainty, and throughout it a chance for the visiting team. You can hear that change a-coming, coming around the bend, and England ain’t seen the success since they don’t know when.