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The Ashes could provide one cause for celebration, but this series will also witness the Australian team celebrate a greater number of birthdays than an arcade in the nineties. Recent addition Jake Weatherald had his thirty-first birthday a day before the team was announced. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day before the Test in Perth. Beau Webster turns 32 just before the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood becomes 35 on the final day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 before January is out.

Older Squad Interest Builds

For two or three years there has been growing curiosity with the average age of this team and especially the bowling attack. It is unusual to have almost every player near a Test team being above thirty, 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 team featuring a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is scarcely a weakness, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are well into their careers.

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Perhaps what really highlighted the talking point is that the backup bowlers over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also well into their 30s. 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.

Transition Imposed by Setbacks

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the Big Four plus Boland have continued backing up. Any side knows that having a batch of similarly-aged players might mean a group of simultaneous retirements, but so far change has remained theoretical: a train that would indeed be arriving the mountain when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet steamed into view.

Now, abruptly, change is upon them, forced upon this Aussie team in the space of a short period. The back injury to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would likely only miss the opening match, was the Cricket Australia view, and as the first bowling change behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could easily be covered for by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring strain, the balance undergoes a much more significant change with two players missing rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers give the stability and precision that allows Starc’s left-arm speed and movement to be used more as a attacking option. Losing both of them means a major adjustment in the composition of the side. Boland handling the new ball is not unusual in his first-class career, but he has been so successful in Tests entering the attack after seven to eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Newcomer Faces Pressure

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, half of it English, for the opening Test of a eagerly awaited Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many media stories describe him as relaxed. He could be brought onto the ground on a banana lounge and still be anxious.

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It's uncertain, it might all go swimmingly for this revamped bowling lineup. It might not work out. What is notable is how quickly Australia have transitioned from the surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, and others. It's unclear what new injuries the opening match may bring. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go for Brisbane, and able to continue after Brisbane, given how complicated stress injuries can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a history of getting injured early in series and a history of initially small injuries becoming extended absences.

Outlook Unclear

The latter part of the contest may see the main four bowlers reunited and all going well. Or it might see transition beginning much sooner than the long-term aim of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is seemingly the next option and could be a great day-night Brisbane option, but after that with options uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also injured and has not yet played a Test. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm repaired, and this level is not the place for easing into one’s work. Beyond them lies the true uncertainty, and amid it all a chance for the opposing side. You can hear that train a-coming, coming around the bend, and England ain’t seen the sunshine since they don’t know when.