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The historic Ashes series could provide one cause for celebration, but this series will also witness the Australian team celebrate more birthday parties than an arcade in the nineties. Recent addition Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day before the team was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Perth Test. Beau Webster reaches 32 just before 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 over.

Older Squad Fascination Grows

For two or three years there has been growing fascination with the average age of this team and especially the bowling unit. It is rare to have nearly all player in a Test side being above thirty, except for young mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that older age was a disadvantage: a Test squad featuring a four-bowler lineup with over 1,500 wickets between them is hardly a disadvantage, and it stands to reason that all of those bowlers are deep into their professional lives.

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Perhaps what most amplified the discussion is that the reserve players over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their thirties. Younger bowlers have briefly joined squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before vanishing for years with injury, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Change Imposed by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the core four plus Boland have continued backing up. Any team knows that having a batch of similarly-aged players might mean a group of similarly-timed retirements, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a process that would indeed be arriving the bend when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet 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 probably only sit out the first Test, was the team management assessment, and as the first bowling change behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could comfortably be replaced by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring strain, the balance undergoes a far greater change with two key bowlers missing 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. Missing both of them means a major adjustment in the composition of the team. Boland taking the new ball is nothing new in his domestic career, but he has been so successful in Tests coming on after seven to eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll likely have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Faces Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at thirty-one years of age himself isn't an overawed youth, but he might become an overawed 31-year-old. A full stadium crowd, 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 laid-back. He could be wheeled onto the ground on a banana lounge and still be anxious.

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It's uncertain, it might all go smoothly for this revamped bowling lineup. It might not. What is striking is how rapidly Australia have moved from the surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. It's unclear what new injuries the first Test may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go for Brisbane, and able to continue after that match, given how complicated stress fractures can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a history of getting injured early in series and a pattern of minor injuries becoming extended absences.

Future Unclear

The back half of the series may witness the primary four bowlers back together and all performing 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 excellent pink-ball Brisbane choice, but beyond that with choices unclear. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also injured and has never played a Test. Richardson has just had his injury-prone arm put back on, and this format is no place for gradually starting one’s work. Beyond them lies the real unknown, and throughout it a chance for the opposing side. You can hear that change approaching, rolling round the corner, and the English team ain’t seen the success since they can't recall when.