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The historic Ashes series could provide a reason to cheer, but this contest will also see the Aussie side host a greater number of birthdays than Timezone in the nineties. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day before the squad was announced. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day before the Test in Perth. Beau Webster turns 32 just ahead of the Brisbane match, 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 before January is out.

Ageing Squad Interest Builds

For a couple of years there has been growing curiosity with the average age of this side and particularly the bowling unit. It is rare to have nearly all player near a Test team being above thirty, except for young mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it didn’t logically follow that greater age was a disadvantage: a Test team featuring a four-bowler lineup with over 1,500 wickets between them is scarcely a disadvantage, and it makes sense 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 reserve players over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their 30s. Emerging pacemen have floated into teams – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Change Forced by Setbacks

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the core four plus Boland have continued performing. Any team knows that having a batch of same-generation players might mean a batch of simultaneous departures, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a train that would indeed be arriving the bend when she comes, but one that had not become visible.

Now, suddenly, transition is upon them, forced upon this Aussie team in the space of a few weeks. The back injury to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would probably 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 replaced by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has gone down with a hamstring injury, the team 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 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 major adjustment in the balance of the side. Boland handling the new ball is nothing new in his domestic career, but he has been so effective in Test matches coming on after seven or eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll likely have to be the man up front.

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 packed stadium, half of it English, for the opening Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an simple first match, no matter how many newspaper profiles portray him as laid-back. He could be wheeled onto the field on a banana lounge and still be nervous.

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Who knows, it might all go smoothly for this revamped bowling lineup. It might not work out. What is notable is how quickly Australia have moved 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 able to continue after that match, given how tricky stress injuries can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a track record of getting injured early in tournaments and a history of initially small injuries turning into extended absences.

Future Unclear

The latter part of the series may witness the primary four bowlers reunited and all performing well. Or it might experience transition beginning much sooner than the long-term aim of 2027 in the UK. Not through Neser, who is apparently next in line and could be a excellent day-night Brisbane choice, but beyond that with options unclear. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also injured and has not yet played a Test match. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm put back on, and this level is not the place for gradually starting one’s work. After them lies the real unknown, and amid it all opportunity for the visiting team. You can hear that train approaching, rolling round the bend, and England ain’t seen the success since they can't recall when.