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The historic Ashes series may offer a reason to cheer, but this contest will also witness the Australian team host more birthday parties than Timezone in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald had his 31st a day prior to the squad was announced. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day before the Perth Test. Beau Webster turns 32 just before Brisbane, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on the second day in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the final day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 by the time January is out.

Older Squad Fascination Grows

For two or three years there has been growing curiosity with the age of this team and especially the bowling unit. It is rare to have almost every player near a Test side being above thirty, aside from novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that older age was a problem: a Test team boasting a four-bowler lineup with 1,568 wickets between them is scarcely a weakness, and it stands to reason 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 well into their 30s. Emerging pacemen have briefly joined squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before vanishing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Transition Forced by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the core four plus Boland have continued performing. Any side knows that having a group of similarly-aged players might mean a group of similarly-timed retirements, but so far change has remained hypothetical: a train that would indeed be arriving the mountain when she comes, but one that had not steamed into view.

Now, abruptly, change is here, forced upon this Australian squad in the space of a few weeks. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would likely only miss the first Test, was the Cricket Australia assessment, and as the first-change bowler behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could comfortably be covered for by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring strain, the balance experiences a far greater change with two key bowlers 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 pace and swing to be used more as a attacking option. Losing both of them means a major adjustment in the composition of the side. Boland taking the new ball is not unusual in his domestic career, but he has been so effective in Tests entering the attack after seven to eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll probably have to be the man up front.

Debutant Faces Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at 31 years old himself won’t be an overawed youth, but he might become an nervous thirty-one-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 media stories describe him as relaxed. He could be wheeled onto the field on a banana lounge and still be nervous.

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It's uncertain, it might all go smoothly for this revamped bowling lineup. It might not work out. What is striking is how quickly Australia have moved from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, and others. Who knows what new injuries the opening match may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be fit for Brisbane, and able to continue after that match, given how tricky stress fractures can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a history of going down early in series and a history of minor injuries turning into extended absences.

Future Unclear

The latter part of the series may see the primary four bowlers reunited 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 apparently the next option and could be a great pink-ball Brisbane choice, but beyond that with options uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also injured and has never played a Test. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm repaired, 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 visiting team. You can hear that change approaching, rolling round the bend, and the English team hasn't seen the sunshine since they don’t know when.