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The historic Ashes series may offer one cause for celebration, but this series will also see the Australian team celebrate a greater number of birthdays than Timezone in the nineties. Recent addition Jake Weatherald had his thirty-first birthday a day before the team was named. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day preceding 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 becomes 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 mounting fascination with the age of this side and particularly the bowling unit. It is rare to have nearly all player near a Test side being over 30, except for young mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it didn’t logically follow that greater age was a problem: a Test squad featuring a four-bowler lineup with 1,568 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 Ashes tour | a former player

Perhaps what most amplified the discussion is that the backup bowlers over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also well into their 30s. Younger bowlers have briefly joined squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before vanishing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Transition Forced by Injuries

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the core four plus Boland have continued performing. Any side knows that having a batch of similarly-aged players might mean a batch of similarly-timed departures, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a process that would indeed be coming round the mountain when she comes, but one that had not become visible.

Now, suddenly, change is here, forced upon this Australian squad in the space of a short period. The back injury to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would likely only sit out the opening match, 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 gone down with a hamstring injury, the balance undergoes a far greater change with two key bowlers absent rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two accurate right-arm bowlers 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 composition of the team. Boland taking the new ball is not unusual in his domestic career, but he has been so successful in Tests coming on after seven to eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll probably have to be the man up front.

Newcomer Confronts Pressure

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at thirty-one years of age himself won’t be an overawed youth, but he might become an overawed 31-year-old. A full stadium crowd, half of it English, for the first Test of a eagerly awaited Ashes series will not make for an simple first match, 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.

Register to The Spin

Who knows, it might all go swimmingly for this new attack. It might not. What is striking is how quickly Australia have moved from the certainty 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 Brisbane, given how complicated stress fractures can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be out, with a track record of going down early in series and a pattern of initially small injuries turning into longer layoffs.

Future Unclear

The back half of the contest may see the primary four bowlers reunited and all going well. Or it might experience transition beginning much earlier than the long-term aim of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is apparently the next option and could be a great day-night Brisbane option, but after 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 level is not the place for gradually starting one’s work. Beyond them lies the real unknown, and amid it all opportunity for the visiting team. You can sense that change a-coming, rolling round the bend, and England ain’t seen the success since they can't recall when.