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The Ashes could provide a reason to cheer, but this contest will also witness the Australian team host more birthday parties than an arcade in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day before the squad was named. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day preceding the Perth Test. Beau Webster reaches 32 just ahead of 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 over.

Older Squad Fascination Grows

For two or three years there has been growing curiosity with the average age of this side and especially the bowling unit. It is rare to have nearly all player near a Test side being above thirty, 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 team featuring 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.

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Perhaps what most amplified the talking point is that the backup bowlers over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also well into their thirties. Emerging pacemen have floated into squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injury, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Change Imposed by Setbacks

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the Big Four plus Boland have kept on performing. Any team knows that having a batch of similarly-aged players might mean a group of simultaneous retirements, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a process that would certainly be arriving the bend when she comes, but one that had not become visible.

Now, abruptly, transition is here, forced upon this Aussie team in the span of a short period. The back injury to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would probably only miss the first Test, was the Cricket Australia assessment, and as the first bowling change behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could easily be covered for by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring strain, the team balance experiences a much more significant shift with two key bowlers missing rather than 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 attacking option. Losing both of them means a fundamental shift in the composition of the team. Boland handling the new ball is not unusual in his first-class career, but he has been so effective in Test matches coming on after seven or eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Confronts Pressure

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, partly 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 relaxed. He could be brought onto the field on a banana lounge and still be nervous.

Register to The Spin

Who knows, it might all go smoothly for this new attack. It might not. What is notable is how quickly Australia have transitioned from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. Who knows what further injuries the opening match may cause. It's unknown whether Cummins will be good to go for Brisbane, and good to back up after that match, given how tricky stress fractures can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a track record of getting injured early in tournaments and a history of minor injuries becoming longer layoffs.

Future Unclear

The latter part of the contest may witness the main four bowlers reunited and all performing well. Or it might experience transition beginning much earlier than the stretch goal of 2027 in the UK. Not through Neser, who is apparently the next option and could be a great pink-ball Brisbane option, but after that with options uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also hurt and has never played a Test. Richardson has just had his injury-prone arm repaired, and this format is no place for easing into one’s work. After them lies the real unknown, and throughout it opportunity for the visiting team. You can sense that change approaching, coming around the bend, and England hasn't seen the sunshine since they can't recall when.