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The Ashes may offer a reason to cheer, but this series will also witness the Aussie side celebrate a greater number of birthdays than Timezone in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his 31st a day prior to the team was named. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day preceding the Test in Perth. Beau Webster turns 32 just before the Brisbane match, 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 by the time January is over.

Ageing Team Fascination Grows

For a couple of years there has been growing fascination with the age of this side and especially the bowling unit. It is unusual to have nearly all 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 disadvantage: a Test team featuring a four-man attack with over 1,500 wickets between them is scarcely a weakness, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are well into their careers.

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

Perhaps what most amplified the discussion is that the reserve players over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their 30s. Younger bowlers have briefly joined teams – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before vanishing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Transition Imposed by Setbacks

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the core four plus Boland have continued backing up. Any side knows that having a batch of similarly-aged players might mean a group of similarly-timed retirements, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a process that would indeed be arriving the bend when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet steamed into view.

Now, abruptly, transition is upon them, imposed on this Aussie team in the span of a short period. The back injury to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would likely 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 gone down with a hamstring injury, the team balance experiences a much more significant change with two players missing rather than a single one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers give the balance and control that allows Starc’s left-arm speed and movement to be used more as a weapon of attack. 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 Tests coming on after seven or eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll likely have to be the opening bowler.

Newcomer Confronts Expectations

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, partly English, for the opening Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an simple first match, no matter how many newspaper profiles portray him as relaxed. He could be wheeled onto the ground on a banana lounge and still be anxious.

Sign up to The Spin

Who knows, it might all go swimmingly for this revamped bowling lineup. It might not. What is notable is how rapidly Australia have transitioned from the surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. It's unclear what new injuries the opening match may bring. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go for the Brisbane Test, and able to continue after that match, given how complicated stress injuries can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a history of getting injured early in series and a pattern of minor injuries becoming longer layoffs.

Outlook Uncertain

The latter part of the contest may see the main four bowlers reunited and all going well. Or it might experience transition beginning much earlier than the stretch goal of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is apparently the next option and could be a excellent pink-ball Brisbane option, but after that with choices unclear. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also hurt and has not yet played a Test match. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm repaired, and this level is not the place for easing into one’s work. After them lies the real unknown, and throughout it a chance for the visiting team. You can sense that change a-coming, coming around the bend, and England ain’t seen the sunshine since they don’t know when.