🔗 Share this article

The Ashes could provide one cause for celebration, but this contest will also witness the Aussie side host more birthday parties than an arcade in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his 31st a day before the team was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 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 out.

Ageing Squad Fascination Builds

For two or three years there has been mounting curiosity with the age of this side and particularly the bowling unit. It is unusual to have nearly all player near a Test team being above thirty, aside from novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that older age was a problem: a Test squad boasting a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is scarcely a weakness, and it stands to reason that all of those bowlers are well into their careers.

I've never felt this sure at the start of an away Ashes series | Mark Ramprakash

Perhaps what most amplified the talking point 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 disappearing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Transition Forced by Setbacks

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the Big Four plus Boland have continued performing. Any team knows that having a group of same-generation players might mean a group of similarly-timed departures, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a train that would indeed be arriving the mountain when she comes, but one that had not steamed into view.

Now, suddenly, transition is here, imposed on 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 Cricket Australia assessment, 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 team balance undergoes a much more significant shift with two players absent 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 weapon of attack. Losing both of them means a major adjustment in the balance of the team. Boland taking 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 initial onslaught. Now he’ll probably have to be the man up front.

Debutant Faces Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at 31 years old 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 deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many media stories portray him as relaxed. He could be wheeled onto the field on a banana lounge and still be nervous.

Sign up to The Spin

It's uncertain, it might all go smoothly for this revamped bowling lineup. It might not work out. What is notable is how rapidly Australia have transitioned from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. It's unclear what further injuries the opening match may bring. It's unknown whether Cummins will be fit for the Brisbane Test, and able to continue after Brisbane, given how tricky stress fractures 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 extended absences.

Future Uncertain

The latter part of the contest may see the primary four bowlers reunited and all performing well. Or it might see transition beginning much sooner than the long-term aim of 2027 in the UK. Not through Neser, who is seemingly next in line and could be a great pink-ball Brisbane choice, but after that with choices uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also injured and has never played a Test. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm repaired, and this level is no place for gradually starting one’s work. Beyond them lies the real unknown, and amid it all opportunity for the opposing side. You can hear that change approaching, coming around the bend, and the English team hasn't seen the success since they can't recall when.