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The Ashes may offer a reason to cheer, but this contest will also witness the Australian team celebrate a greater number of birthdays than Timezone in the 90s. Recent addition Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day prior to the squad was named. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day preceding the Test in Perth. Beau Webster reaches 32 just before 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 by the time January is out.

Ageing Team Fascination Grows

For a couple of years there has been mounting curiosity with the age of this side and particularly the bowling unit. It is unusual to have almost every player near a Test team being over 30, except for novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that older age was a disadvantage: a Test team boasting a four-bowler lineup with over 1,500 wickets between them is scarcely a weakness, and it stands to reason that all of those bowlers are well into their professional lives.

I've never felt this sure at the beginning of an away Ashes series | a former player

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 squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injury, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Transition Forced by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the Big Four plus Boland have continued performing. Any team knows that having a batch of same-generation players might mean a batch of similarly-timed retirements, 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 upon them, imposed on this Australian squad in the span of a short period. The back injury to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would probably only miss the opening match, was the team management assessment, and as the first bowling change behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could comfortably be replaced by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, the team balance experiences a much more significant shift with two players absent rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two accurate right-arm bowlers give the balance and control that allows Starc’s left-arm speed and movement to be used more as a weapon of attack. Losing both of them means a fundamental shift in the composition of the side. Boland taking the new ball is nothing new in his first-class career, but he has been so effective in Test matches entering the attack after seven or eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Faces Pressure

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at 31 years old himself isn't an overawed youth, but he might become an nervous thirty-one-year-old. A packed stadium, half of it English, for the first Test of a eagerly awaited Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many newspaper profiles describe him as laid-back. 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 revamped bowling lineup. It might not work out. What is striking is how quickly Australia have transitioned from the surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, and others. It's unclear 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 out, with a track record of going down early in tournaments and a pattern of initially small injuries turning into extended absences.

Outlook Unclear

The latter part of the series may witness the primary four bowlers back together and all performing well. Or it might experience transition beginning much earlier than the long-term aim of 2027 in the UK. Not through Neser, who is seemingly next in line and could be a great pink-ball Brisbane option, but after that with choices 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 crash-test-dummy arm put back on, and this format is no place for easing into one’s work. Beyond them lies the real unknown, and amid it all a chance for the opposing side. You can sense that train approaching, rolling round the corner, and England ain’t seen the success since they can't recall when.