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The Ashes could provide one cause for celebration, but this series will also witness the Australian team host a greater number of birthdays than an arcade in the nineties. Recent addition Jake Weatherald had his 31st a day before the team was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Test in Perth. Beau Webster turns 32 just before the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on the second day in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the final day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 by the time January is over.

Older Squad Interest Grows

For a couple of years there has been mounting fascination with the age of this side and especially the bowling unit. It is unusual to have almost every player in a Test side 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 problem: a Test squad featuring a four-bowler lineup 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 professional lives.

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Perhaps what really highlighted the discussion is that the reserve players over that time, 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 injuries, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Change Forced by Injuries

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the core four plus Boland have kept on backing up. Any team knows that having a batch of same-generation players might mean a batch of simultaneous retirements, but so far change has remained hypothetical: a process that would certainly be coming round the mountain when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet become visible.

Now, suddenly, change is here, imposed on this Australian squad in the span of a few weeks. The back injury to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would likely only sit out the first Test, was the team management view, and as the first bowling change behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could easily be replaced by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, the balance experiences a much more significant change with two players 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 speed and movement to be used more as a weapon of attack. Losing both of them means a major adjustment in the composition of the side. Boland taking 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 initial onslaught. Now he’ll likely have to be the opening bowler.

Newcomer Confronts Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at 31 years old himself isn't an overawed youth, but he might become an overawed 31-year-old. A full stadium crowd, partly English, for the first Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many newspaper profiles 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

It's uncertain, it might all go swimmingly for this revamped bowling lineup. It might not work out. What is notable is how rapidly Australia have moved from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, and others. Who knows 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 complicated stress fractures can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a history of going down early in series and a pattern of initially small injuries turning into extended absences.

Future Uncertain

The back half of the series may witness 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 seemingly the next option and could be a great pink-ball Brisbane option, but beyond that with options unclear. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also hurt and has never played a Test. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm put back on, and this format is not the 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, coming around the corner, and England ain’t seen the success since they don’t know when.