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The Ashes 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 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald had his thirty-first birthday a day before the squad was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day preceding the Perth Test. Beau Webster turns 32 just before Brisbane, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on the second day in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the final day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 by the time January is out.

Ageing Team Fascination Builds

For a couple of years there has been growing curiosity with the average age of this side and particularly the bowling attack. It is rare to have almost every player in a Test team being over 30, aside from young mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it didn’t logically follow that older age was a problem: a Test team featuring a four-bowler lineup with 1,568 wickets between them is scarcely a weakness, and it stands to reason that all of those bowlers are deep into their professional lives.

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Perhaps what really highlighted the discussion is that the backup bowlers 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 vanishing for years with injury, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Change Imposed by Injuries

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the Big 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 hypothetical: a train that would indeed be coming round the mountain when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet become visible.

Now, suddenly, transition is upon them, imposed on this Aussie team in the space of a short period. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would probably only sit out the opening match, was the Cricket Australia view, and as the first bowling change 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 change with two players missing rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two accurate right-arm bowlers give the stability and precision that enables 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 handling the new ball is not unusual in his first-class career, but he has been so effective in Test matches entering the attack after seven to eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll likely have to be the man up front.

Newcomer Faces Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at thirty-one years of age himself won’t be an overawed youth, but he might become an nervous thirty-one-year-old. A packed stadium, half of it English, for the first Test of a eagerly awaited Ashes series will not make for an simple first match, no matter how many media stories describe him as relaxed. He could be wheeled onto the ground on a banana lounge and still be anxious.

Sign up 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 transitioned from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, and others. Who knows what new injuries the first Test may bring. Who knows whether Cummins will be fit for Brisbane, and good to back up after that match, given how complicated stress fractures can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be out, with a track record of going down early in tournaments and a pattern of minor injuries becoming longer layoffs.

Future Unclear

The latter part of the series may witness the primary four bowlers reunited and all going well. Or it might see transition beginning much sooner than the stretch goal of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is apparently next in line and could be a excellent day-night Brisbane option, but beyond that with choices uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also hurt and has not yet played a Test. Richardson has just had his injury-prone arm put back on, and this level is no place for gradually starting one’s work. Beyond them lies the true uncertainty, and amid it all opportunity for the opposing side. You can hear that change a-coming, coming around the bend, and England hasn't seen the success since they can't recall when.