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The Ashes may offer one cause for celebration, but this contest 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 before the team was announced. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day preceding the Perth Test. Beau Webster turns 32 just ahead of Brisbane, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the fifth day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 before January is out.

Older Squad Fascination Builds

For two or three years there has been mounting fascination with the age of this side and particularly the bowling unit. It is rare to have nearly all player near a Test team being over 30, except for novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it didn’t logically follow that older age was a disadvantage: a Test squad featuring a four-man attack with over 1,500 wickets between them is hardly a disadvantage, and it stands to reason that all of those bowlers are deep into their careers.

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Perhaps what really highlighted the talking point is that the backup bowlers over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their 30s. Emerging pacemen have floated into teams – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before vanishing for years with injury, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Change Forced by Setbacks

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the core four plus Boland have continued performing. Any team knows that having a group of similarly-aged players might mean a group of simultaneous retirements, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a train that would indeed be coming round the bend when she comes, but one that had not steamed into view.

Now, suddenly, change is upon them, imposed on this Aussie team in the span of a few weeks. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would probably only miss the first Test, was the Cricket Australia view, 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 undergoes a far greater shift with two key bowlers absent rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers give the balance and control that enables Starc’s left-arm pace and swing to be used more as a weapon of attack. Losing both of them means a fundamental shift in the composition of the side. Boland taking the new ball is not unusual in his domestic career, but he has been so effective in Test matches entering the attack after seven to eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Faces 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 nervous thirty-one-year-old. A full stadium crowd, partly English, for the first Test of a eagerly awaited Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many media stories portray him as laid-back. He could be wheeled onto the ground on a sun lounger and still be nervous.

Sign up 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 moved from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. It's unclear what further injuries the first Test 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. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a history of getting injured early in tournaments and a history of initially small injuries becoming extended absences.

Future Uncertain

The back half of the series 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 choice, but beyond that with options 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 throughout it opportunity for the visiting team. You can sense that change approaching, coming around the bend, and the English team ain’t seen the success since they can't recall when.