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The Ashes could provide a reason to cheer, but this series will also see the Australian team host a greater number of birthdays than Timezone in the nineties. Recent addition Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day prior to the squad was named. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day before the Test in Perth. Beau Webster reaches 32 just ahead of the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on the second day in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the fifth day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 before January is over.

Ageing Team Fascination Grows

For two or three years there has been mounting fascination with the average age of this side and particularly the bowling attack. It is unusual to have nearly all player in a Test side being over 30, except for novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that greater age was a problem: a Test squad featuring a four-bowler lineup with over 1,500 wickets between them is scarcely a weakness, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are deep into their professional lives.

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

Perhaps what really highlighted the talking point is that the backup bowlers over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also well into their 30s. Emerging pacemen have floated into squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Transition Imposed by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the core four plus Boland have continued performing. Any team knows that having a batch of similarly-aged players might mean a batch of simultaneous departures, but so far transition 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, suddenly, change is upon them, imposed on this Aussie team in the span of a short period. The back injury to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would probably 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 gone down with a hamstring injury, the balance experiences a much more significant shift with two key bowlers missing rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers give the balance and control 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 balance of the side. Boland handling the new ball is nothing new in his first-class career, but he has been so effective in Tests entering the attack after seven to eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll likely have to be the opening bowler.

Newcomer Faces Pressure

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, partly 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 brought onto the ground on a banana lounge and still be anxious.

Register to The Spin

Who knows, it might all go smoothly 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. It's unclear what further injuries the first Test may cause. It's unknown whether Cummins will be fit for the Brisbane Test, and able to continue after that match, given how complicated stress fractures can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be out, with a history of going down early in series and a history of minor injuries becoming longer layoffs.

Future Uncertain

The latter part of the contest may witness the primary four bowlers reunited and all going well. Or it might see transition beginning much sooner than the long-term aim of 2027 in the UK. Not through Neser, who is apparently next in line and could be a excellent pink-ball Brisbane choice, but beyond that with options uncertain. 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 repaired, and this format is no place for gradually starting one’s work. Beyond them lies the true uncertainty, and throughout it opportunity for the visiting team. You can hear that change approaching, coming around the bend, and England ain’t seen the success since they don’t know when.