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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 31st a day prior to the team was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Test in Perth. Beau Webster reaches 32 just before Brisbane, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood becomes 35 on the final day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 before January is over.

Older Team Interest Grows

For a couple of years there has been mounting fascination with the age of this side and especially the bowling attack. It is rare to have almost every player near a Test team being above thirty, aside from young mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it didn’t logically follow that older 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 well into their professional lives.

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Perhaps what most amplified the talking point is that the reserve players over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also well into their 30s. Emerging pacemen have briefly joined squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Transition Forced by Setbacks

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the Big Four plus Boland have continued performing. Any team knows that having a batch of same-generation players might mean a batch of simultaneous retirements, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a process that would indeed be arriving the bend when she comes, but one that had not steamed into view.

Now, abruptly, transition is upon them, imposed on this Australian squad in the space of a short period. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would likely only sit out the first Test, was the Cricket Australia 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 injury, the balance experiences a far greater shift with two players missing rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two accurate right-arm bowlers give the balance and control that enables Starc’s left-arm speed and movement to be used more as a attacking option. Losing both of them means a major adjustment in the composition of the team. Boland handling the new ball is nothing new in his first-class career, but he has been so successful in Tests coming on after seven or eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Faces Pressure

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 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 newspaper profiles portray him as relaxed. He could be brought onto the field on a banana lounge and still be nervous.

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Who knows, it might all go swimmingly for this new attack. It might not work out. What is notable is how quickly Australia have transitioned from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, and others. It's unclear what new injuries the opening match may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go for Brisbane, and able to continue after that match, given how tricky stress fractures can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be out, with a history of getting injured early in series and a history of initially small injuries becoming extended absences.

Outlook Unclear

The back half of the contest may witness the primary four bowlers back together and all performing well. Or it might experience transition setting in 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 beyond that with options uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also hurt and has never played a Test match. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm repaired, and this level is no place for easing into one’s work. After them lies the true uncertainty, and throughout it a chance for the visiting team. You can hear that train a-coming, rolling round the corner, and England ain’t seen the success since they don’t know when.