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The historic Ashes series may offer one cause for celebration, but this contest will also see the Australian team celebrate a greater number of birthdays than Timezone in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day prior to the team was named. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day before the Perth Test. Beau Webster reaches 32 just ahead of the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on the second day in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the fifth day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 by the time January is over.

Older Team Fascination Grows

For two or three years there has been mounting curiosity with the average age of this team and particularly the bowling unit. It is unusual to have almost every player in a Test side being over 30, except for young mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that older age was a problem: 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 reserve players over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their thirties. Younger bowlers have briefly joined teams – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before vanishing 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 continued backing up. Any side knows that having a batch of similarly-aged players might mean a batch of simultaneous departures, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a train that would certainly be coming round the mountain when she comes, but one that had not become visible.

Now, suddenly, change is here, imposed on this Australian squad in the space of a short period. 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 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 undergoes a much more significant change with two key bowlers missing rather than a single one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two accurate right-arm bowlers give the stability and precision that enables Starc’s left-arm speed and movement to be used more as a attacking option. Losing both of them means a fundamental shift in the composition of the team. Boland taking the new ball is nothing new in his domestic career, but he has been so effective in Test matches entering the attack after seven to eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll probably have to be the man up front.

Debutant Faces Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at thirty-one years of age himself isn't an intimidated youngster, but he might become an nervous thirty-one-year-old. A full stadium crowd, partly English, for the opening Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many newspaper profiles portray him as relaxed. He could be brought onto the field on a sun lounger and still be nervous.

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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. Who knows what new injuries the opening match 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. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be out, with a history of getting injured early in tournaments and a pattern of minor injuries turning into extended absences.

Future Uncertain

The back half of the contest may see the primary four bowlers reunited and all going well. Or it might see transition setting in much earlier than the stretch goal of 2027 in the UK. Not through Neser, who is seemingly the next option and could be a great day-night Brisbane option, but beyond that with options unclear. Sean Abbott was in the original team, 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 format is no place for gradually starting one’s work. After them lies the true uncertainty, and throughout it a chance for the opposing side. You can hear that change a-coming, coming around the bend, and England ain’t seen the sunshine since they can't recall when.