🔗 Share this article

The historic Ashes series may offer a reason to cheer, but this contest will also witness the Aussie side celebrate more birthday parties than an arcade in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his 31st a day prior to the squad was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Perth Test. Beau Webster reaches 32 just ahead of Brisbane, 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 Interest Grows

For a couple of years there has been growing fascination with the age of this team and especially the bowling unit. It is unusual to have almost every player in a Test team being over 30, except for young mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that older age was a problem: a Test team featuring a four-bowler lineup with over 1,500 wickets between them is hardly a disadvantage, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are well into their professional lives.

I've never felt this sure at the beginning of an Ashes tour | Mark Ramprakash

Perhaps what most amplified the talking point is that the backup bowlers over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their thirties. Younger bowlers have briefly joined squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injury, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Change Imposed by Setbacks

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the Big Four plus Boland have continued backing up. Any side knows that having a group of similarly-aged players might mean a batch of similarly-timed departures, but so far change has remained hypothetical: a process that would indeed be arriving the mountain when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet steamed into view.

Now, suddenly, transition is here, forced upon this Australian squad in the span of a few weeks. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would likely only miss the first Test, was the Cricket Australia assessment, and as the first-change bowler behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could easily be replaced by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring strain, the team balance undergoes a much more significant shift with two key bowlers missing rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two accurate right-arm bowlers give the balance and control that allows Starc’s left-arm pace and swing to be used more as a attacking option. Losing both of them means a fundamental shift in the composition of the side. Boland handling the new ball is nothing new in his first-class career, but he has been so successful in Tests entering the attack after seven or eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Newcomer Confronts 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 nervous thirty-one-year-old. A packed stadium, half of it English, for the first Test of a eagerly awaited Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many media stories describe him as relaxed. He could be wheeled onto the field on a banana lounge and still be nervous.

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 quickly Australia have moved from the surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, and others. Who knows what further injuries the opening match may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be fit for the Brisbane Test, and able to continue after that match, given how complicated stress fractures can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be out, with a track record of going down early in series and a pattern of minor injuries turning into longer layoffs.

Future Uncertain

The latter part of the series may witness the main four bowlers back together and all performing well. Or it might experience transition setting in much earlier than the stretch goal of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is seemingly next in line and could be a great day-night Brisbane choice, but beyond that with choices uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also hurt and has never played a Test match. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm put back on, and this format is no place for gradually starting one’s work. Beyond them lies the real unknown, and amid it all a chance for the visiting team. You can sense that change approaching, rolling round the corner, and England ain’t seen the success since they don’t know when.