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The Ashes may offer a reason to cheer, but this contest will also see the Australian team celebrate a greater number of birthdays than an arcade in the nineties. New boy Jake Weatherald had his thirty-first birthday a day prior to the team was announced. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day preceding the Perth Test. Beau Webster turns 32 just before Brisbane, 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 Fascination 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 rare to have almost every player near a Test team being above thirty, except for novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it didn’t logically follow that greater age was a problem: a Test squad boasting a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is hardly a disadvantage, and it stands to reason that all of those bowlers are well into their careers.

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Perhaps what really highlighted the discussion is that the reserve players over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their thirties. 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.

Change Forced by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the Big Four plus Boland have continued backing up. Any side knows that having a group of similarly-aged players might mean a batch of simultaneous departures, but so far change has remained theoretical: a process that would indeed be coming round the bend when she comes, but one that had not steamed into view.

Now, abruptly, change is here, forced upon this Australian squad in the span of a few weeks. The back injury to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would likely only miss the first Test, was the team management assessment, and as the first-change bowler behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could easily be covered for by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, the team balance experiences a much more significant shift with two key bowlers absent rather than 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 weapon of attack. Missing both of them means a fundamental shift in the composition of the team. 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 likely have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Confronts 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 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 easy debut, no matter how many media stories portray him as relaxed. He could be wheeled onto the field 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. What is striking is how rapidly Australia have moved from the surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. Who knows what new injuries the opening match may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go 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 getting injured early in tournaments and a pattern of initially small injuries becoming longer layoffs.

Future Uncertain

The back half 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 the UK. Not through Neser, who is seemingly next in line and could be a great day-night Brisbane option, but beyond that with choices uncertain. 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 level is not the place for easing into one’s work. After them lies the true uncertainty, and throughout it a chance for the visiting team. You can sense that train a-coming, rolling round the bend, and the English team ain’t seen the success since they don’t know when.