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The historic Ashes series may offer one cause for celebration, but this contest will also see the Aussie side celebrate more birthday parties than Timezone in the nineties. Recent addition Jake Weatherald had his thirty-first birthday a day prior to the team was named. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day preceding the Test in Perth. Beau Webster reaches 32 just ahead of 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 over.

Ageing Team Interest Builds

For a couple of years there has been growing curiosity with the average age of this team and especially the bowling unit. It is rare to have almost every player near a Test side being over 30, except for novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that greater age was a disadvantage: a Test squad boasting a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is hardly a weakness, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are well into their professional lives.

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Perhaps what really highlighted the discussion is that the backup bowlers over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their 30s. Emerging pacemen have briefly joined squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injury, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Transition Forced by Setbacks

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the core four plus Boland have continued backing up. Any team knows that having a group of similarly-aged players might mean a group 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 hadn’t yet steamed into view.

Now, suddenly, transition is upon them, forced upon this Aussie team in the space of a short period. The back injury to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would likely only miss the opening match, was the Cricket Australia 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 strain, the 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 pace and swing to be used more as a weapon of attack. Losing both of them means a major adjustment in the composition of the team. Boland handling the new ball is not unusual in his first-class career, but he has been so effective in Test matches coming on after seven or eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Newcomer Faces Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at thirty-one years of age himself won’t be 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 eagerly awaited Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many newspaper profiles portray him as laid-back. He could be wheeled onto the ground on a banana lounge 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 striking is how quickly Australia have transitioned 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 bring. Who knows whether Cummins will be fit for the Brisbane Test, and good to back up after Brisbane, given how tricky stress fractures 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 Uncertain

The latter part of the series may see the main four bowlers back together and all going well. Or it might experience transition setting in 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 pink-ball Brisbane choice, but after that with choices 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 repaired, and this format is no place for easing into 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 corner, and the English team ain’t seen the sunshine since they can't recall when.