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The Ashes could provide one cause for celebration, but this series will also witness the Aussie side host a greater number of birthdays than Timezone in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his 31st a day before the squad was named. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Perth Test. Beau Webster turns 32 just ahead of Brisbane, 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 before January is over.

Ageing Team Interest Grows

For a couple of years there has been mounting curiosity with the age of this team and especially the bowling attack. It is rare to have almost every player in a Test team being over 30, aside from novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend 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.

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

Perhaps what most amplified the talking point is that the reserve players over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep 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 Setbacks

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the core four plus Boland have kept on performing. Any team knows that having a group of similarly-aged players might mean a batch of similarly-timed retirements, but so far transition has remained theoretical: a train that would indeed be arriving the mountain when she comes, but one that had not steamed into view.

Now, suddenly, transition is here, imposed on this Aussie team in the span of a few weeks. The back injury to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would likely only miss the opening match, 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 gone down with a hamstring strain, the team balance undergoes a far greater shift with two players absent rather than a single one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers give the stability and precision that enables Starc’s left-arm speed and movement to be used more as a attacking option. Missing both of them means a major adjustment in the balance of the side. Boland taking the new ball is not unusual in his first-class career, but he has been so successful in Test matches coming on after seven or eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll likely have to be the opening bowler.

Newcomer 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, partly English, for the first Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many newspaper profiles describe him as relaxed. He could be brought onto the field on a sun lounger and still be anxious.

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Who knows, it might all go smoothly for this new attack. It might not work out. What is notable is how rapidly Australia have moved from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, and others. It's unclear what new injuries the opening match may cause. It's unknown whether Cummins will be good to go for the Brisbane Test, and able to continue after Brisbane, given how complicated stress fractures can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a history of getting injured early in tournaments and a pattern of minor injuries turning into longer layoffs.

Future Uncertain

The back half of the series may witness 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 apparently the next option and could be a excellent day-night Brisbane option, but beyond that with choices uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also injured and has not yet played a Test match. Richardson has just had his injury-prone arm put back on, and this format is not the place for gradually starting one’s work. After them lies the real unknown, and amid it all opportunity for the opposing side. You can hear that change approaching, rolling round the corner, and England hasn't seen the sunshine since they can't recall when.