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The Ashes may offer a reason to cheer, but this series will also witness the Aussie side host a greater number of birthdays than an arcade 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 Test in Perth. Beau Webster turns 32 just ahead of the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood becomes 35 on the fifth day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 by the time January is out.

Older Squad Interest Builds

For two or three years there has been growing curiosity with the average age of this team and particularly the bowling unit. It is unusual to have nearly all player near a Test side being above thirty, aside from young mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that greater age was a problem: a Test team boasting a four-bowler lineup with 1,568 wickets between them is hardly a disadvantage, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are well into their professional lives.

I've never felt this sure at the start of an Ashes tour | a former player

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

Change Forced by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the Big Four plus Boland have kept on backing up. Any team knows that having a group of similarly-aged players might mean a group of similarly-timed departures, but so far transition has remained theoretical: a process that would certainly be coming round the bend when she comes, but one that had not steamed into view.

Now, abruptly, transition is here, forced upon this Aussie team in the space of a few weeks. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would probably only sit out the first Test, was the team management view, and as the first-change bowler behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could comfortably be covered for by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has gone down with a hamstring injury, the balance undergoes a much more significant shift with two key bowlers absent rather than a single one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers 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 team. Boland handling the new ball is nothing new in his domestic career, but he has been so successful in Test matches coming on after seven or eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Confronts Pressure

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at 31 years old himself won’t be an intimidated youngster, but he might become an overawed 31-year-old. A full stadium crowd, partly English, for the first Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an simple first match, no matter how many newspaper profiles describe him as laid-back. He could be wheeled onto the ground on a banana lounge and still be anxious.

Register to The Spin

It's uncertain, it might all go swimmingly for this new attack. It might not. 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. Who knows what further injuries the first Test may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be fit for Brisbane, and good to back up after Brisbane, given how complicated stress injuries can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be out, with a history of getting injured early in tournaments and a pattern of initially small injuries becoming longer layoffs.

Future Uncertain

The back half of the series 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 pink-ball Brisbane option, but after that with options unclear. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also hurt and has never played a Test. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm repaired, and this level 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 train approaching, coming around the bend, and England hasn't seen the success since they can't recall when.