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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 nineties. Recent addition 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 reaches 32 just ahead of the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the final day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 before January is out.

Older Team Interest Builds

For a couple of years there has been mounting fascination with the average age of this side and particularly the bowling unit. It is unusual to have nearly all player in a Test team being over 30, except for novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that older age was a disadvantage: a Test squad boasting a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is hardly a disadvantage, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are well into their professional lives.

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Perhaps what really highlighted the talking point is that the reserve players over that time, 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.

Change Imposed by Setbacks

So far, that hasn’t mattered, 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 similarly-timed retirements, but so far change has remained hypothetical: a train that would certainly be coming round the bend when she comes, but one that had not steamed into view.

Now, suddenly, change is here, imposed on this Aussie team in the space of a few weeks. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would probably only sit out the opening match, was the team management assessment, and as the first-change bowler behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could easily be replaced by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, the balance undergoes a far greater shift with two key bowlers absent rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers give the stability and precision that enables Starc’s left-arm pace and swing to be used more as a weapon of attack. Losing both of them means a fundamental shift in the balance of the side. Boland taking the new ball is not unusual in his domestic career, but he has been so effective 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 won’t be an overawed youth, but he might become an overawed 31-year-old. A full stadium crowd, half of it English, for the first Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an simple first match, no matter how many newspaper profiles describe him as laid-back. He could be wheeled onto the ground on a banana lounge and still be anxious.

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Who knows, it might all go swimmingly for this new attack. It might not work out. What is notable is how rapidly Australia have transitioned from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. Who knows what further injuries the first Test may bring. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go for the Brisbane Test, and good to back up after that match, given how complicated stress fractures can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a history of getting injured early in series and a pattern of minor injuries turning into extended absences.

Future Uncertain

The back half of the contest may see the primary four bowlers back together and all going well. Or it might experience transition beginning much sooner than the stretch goal of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is seemingly next in line and could be a excellent pink-ball Brisbane option, but beyond that with choices unclear. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also injured and has never played a Test match. Richardson has just had his injury-prone arm repaired, and this format is no place for gradually starting one’s work. After them lies the real unknown, and throughout it opportunity for the visiting team. You can hear that train approaching, coming around the bend, and the English team hasn't seen the success since they don’t know when.