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The Ashes could provide a reason to cheer, but this contest will also see the Australian team celebrate more birthday parties than Timezone in the nineties. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day prior to the team was named. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Test in Perth. Beau Webster turns 32 just before Brisbane, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on the second day in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood becomes 35 on the final day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 by the time January is out.

Ageing Team Interest Builds

For a couple of years there has been growing fascination with the average age of this side and particularly the bowling unit. It is rare to have nearly all player in a Test side being over 30, except for young mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it didn’t logically follow that greater age was a problem: a Test team featuring a four-man attack with over 1,500 wickets between them is hardly a disadvantage, and it stands to reason 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 well into their thirties. Younger bowlers have briefly joined squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Change Forced by Setbacks

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the core four plus Boland have kept on performing. Any team knows that having a group of similarly-aged players might mean a group of similarly-timed retirements, but so far change has remained theoretical: a train that would indeed be coming round the mountain when she comes, but one that had not steamed into view.

Now, suddenly, transition is here, imposed on this Aussie team in the span of a few weeks. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would probably only sit out the first Test, was the Cricket Australia view, and as the first-change bowler behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could easily be covered for by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has gone down with a hamstring injury, the team balance experiences a far greater shift with two players missing 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 attacking option. Losing both of them means a fundamental shift in the balance of the team. Boland taking the new ball is not unusual in his domestic career, but he has been so successful in Test matches coming on after seven to eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll probably have to be the man up front.

Debutant Faces Pressure

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at 31 years old himself isn't an intimidated youngster, but he might become an nervous thirty-one-year-old. A packed stadium, half of it English, for the opening Test of a eagerly awaited Ashes series will not make for an simple first match, no matter how many newspaper profiles portray him as relaxed. He could be brought 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 work out. What is striking is how rapidly Australia have transitioned from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. It's unclear what new injuries the opening match may bring. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go for the Brisbane Test, and able to continue after Brisbane, given how tricky stress injuries can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be out, with a history of going down early in tournaments and a pattern of minor injuries becoming longer layoffs.

Future Unclear

The back half of the series may see the main four bowlers back together and all performing well. Or it might see transition beginning much earlier than the stretch goal of 2027 in the UK. Not through Neser, who is apparently the next option and could be a great day-night Brisbane choice, but beyond that with choices unclear. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also injured 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 visiting team. You can hear that train a-coming, rolling round the bend, and the English team ain’t seen the sunshine since they can't recall when.