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The Ashes could provide one cause for celebration, but this series will also see the Aussie side celebrate a greater number of birthdays than an arcade in the nineties. Recent addition Jake Weatherald had his 31st a day prior to the team was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Perth Test. Beau Webster turns 32 just ahead of the Brisbane match, 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.

Ageing Team Fascination Builds

For a couple of years there has been growing curiosity with the average age of this team and particularly the bowling unit. It is rare to have nearly all player near a Test side being over 30, aside from novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it didn’t logically follow that greater age was a disadvantage: a Test team featuring a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is scarcely a weakness, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are deep into their professional lives.

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Perhaps what really highlighted the talking point is that the reserve players over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also well into their 30s. Younger bowlers have floated into teams – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before vanishing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Change Imposed by Injuries

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the core four plus Boland have kept on backing up. Any team knows that having a batch of same-generation players might mean a group of simultaneous departures, but so far change has remained hypothetical: a train that would certainly be arriving the mountain when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet steamed into view.

Now, suddenly, transition is here, forced upon this Australian squad in the space 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 view, and as the first bowling change behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could easily be replaced by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring strain, the balance experiences a much more significant change with two key bowlers missing rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers give the balance and control that enables 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 team. Boland handling the new ball is nothing new in his domestic career, but he has been so effective in Test matches coming on after seven or eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll probably 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, 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 relaxed. He could be wheeled onto the ground on a sun lounger and still be nervous.

Sign up to The Spin

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 further injuries the first Test may bring. 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 sidelined, with a history of going down early in series and a pattern of minor injuries becoming extended absences.

Outlook Uncertain

The back half of the contest may see the primary four bowlers reunited and all going well. Or it might see 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 excellent day-night Brisbane choice, but beyond that with options unclear. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also injured 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 sense that train a-coming, rolling round the bend, and England hasn't seen the success since they can't recall when.