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The historic Ashes series may offer a reason to cheer, but this series will also see the Australian team celebrate a greater number of birthdays than Timezone in the nineties. Recent addition Jake Weatherald celebrated his 31st a day prior to the squad was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Perth Test. Beau Webster turns 32 just before the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on the second day in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood becomes 35 on the fifth day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 by the time January is out.

Ageing Team Interest Grows

For two or three years there has been growing fascination with the age of this team and especially the bowling attack. It is unusual to have nearly all player near a Test team being over 30, except for young mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that older age was a problem: a Test squad boasting a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is hardly a weakness, and it stands to reason that all of those bowlers are deep into their careers.

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 backup bowlers over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also well into their thirties. Younger bowlers have floated into teams – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injury, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Change Forced by Setbacks

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the core four plus Boland have continued performing. Any team knows that having a group of same-generation players might mean a group of similarly-timed departures, but so far change has remained theoretical: a process that would indeed be coming round the mountain when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet become visible.

Now, abruptly, change is here, imposed on this Aussie team in the space of a short period. The back injury to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would likely only sit out the first Test, was the team management view, and as the first-change bowler behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could easily be replaced by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has gone down with a hamstring injury, the balance experiences a far greater shift with two players absent rather than a single one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two accurate right-arm bowlers give the stability and precision that allows Starc’s left-arm speed and movement to be used more as a weapon of attack. Losing both of them means a major adjustment in the composition of the side. Boland handling the new ball is not unusual in his first-class career, but he has been so effective in Tests coming on after seven to eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll likely have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Confronts Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at thirty-one years of age himself won’t be an intimidated youngster, 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 portray him as relaxed. He could be brought onto the field on a banana lounge and still be anxious.

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It's uncertain, it might all go swimmingly for this revamped bowling lineup. It might not. 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 opening match may bring. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go for the Brisbane Test, and able to continue after that match, given how complicated stress fractures can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a track record of getting injured early in series and a pattern of minor injuries becoming extended absences.

Future Unclear

The back half of the contest may see the main four bowlers reunited and all going well. Or it might see transition setting in much earlier than the long-term aim of 2027 in the UK. Not through Neser, who is seemingly the next option and could be a great pink-ball Brisbane option, but after that with choices uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also injured and has never played a Test match. Richardson has just had his injury-prone arm put back on, and this level is not the place for gradually starting one’s work. Beyond them lies the true uncertainty, and throughout it opportunity for the opposing side. You can sense that change a-coming, rolling round the corner, and the English team ain’t seen the sunshine since they can't recall when.