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The historic Ashes series 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. Recent addition Jake Weatherald had his 31st a day before the team was named. 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 final day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 by the time January is over.

Older Squad Fascination Builds

For a couple of years there has been mounting curiosity with the age of this side and especially the bowling unit. It is rare to have nearly all player near a Test team being over 30, aside from young mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it didn’t logically follow that greater age was a problem: a Test squad featuring a four-man attack with over 1,500 wickets between them is hardly 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 really highlighted the talking point is that the reserve players over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also well into their thirties. Younger bowlers have floated into squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injury, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Transition Imposed by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the Big Four plus Boland have kept on 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 theoretical: a process that would indeed be arriving the bend when she comes, but one that had not become visible.

Now, suddenly, transition is here, forced upon this Australian squad in the span of a few weeks. The back injury to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would likely only miss the opening match, was the team management view, and as the first-change bowler 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 a single 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. Missing both of them means a fundamental shift in the composition of the team. Boland handling the new ball is nothing new in his domestic career, but he has been so effective in Test matches entering the attack after seven or eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Faces Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at thirty-one years of age himself isn't an intimidated youngster, but he might become an overawed 31-year-old. A full stadium crowd, half of it English, for the first Test of a eagerly awaited 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 nervous.

Register to The Spin

Who knows, it might all go smoothly for this new attack. 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 new injuries the opening match may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go for Brisbane, and good to back up after Brisbane, given how tricky stress injuries can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a history of going down early in series and a pattern of initially small injuries becoming extended absences.

Future Uncertain

The latter part of the series may see the primary four bowlers back together and all going well. Or it might see transition setting in much earlier than the long-term aim of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is apparently next in line and could be a excellent pink-ball Brisbane choice, but beyond that with choices unclear. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also injured and has never played a Test. Richardson has just had his injury-prone arm put back on, and this level is no place for gradually starting one’s work. After them lies the real unknown, and amid it all a chance for the opposing side. You can sense that change a-coming, rolling round the corner, and the English team hasn't seen the success since they can't recall when.