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The Ashes may offer one cause for celebration, but this contest will also see the Aussie side host a greater number of birthdays than an arcade in the nineties. Recent addition Jake Weatherald had his 31st a day prior to the team was announced. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day before the Test in Perth. Beau Webster reaches 32 just before 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 out.

Older Team Interest Builds

For a couple of years there has been mounting fascination with the average age of this team and particularly the bowling unit. It is rare 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 wasn't necessarily true that greater age was a problem: a Test squad boasting a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is scarcely a weakness, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are deep into their professional lives.

I've never felt this sure at the beginning of an Ashes tour | a former player

Perhaps what really highlighted the talking point is that the reserve players 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 injuries, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Transition Imposed by Setbacks

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the Big Four plus Boland have kept on performing. Any team knows that having a group of same-generation players might mean a group of similarly-timed departures, but so far change has remained theoretical: a process that would certainly be coming round the mountain when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet steamed into view.

Now, abruptly, change is here, forced upon this Australian squad in the space of a short period. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would probably only miss the first Test, 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 strain, the team balance undergoes a much more significant shift with two players missing rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers give the stability and precision that enables Starc’s left-arm speed and movement to be used more as a weapon of attack. Missing both of them means a fundamental shift in the composition of the side. Boland taking the new ball is not unusual in his first-class career, but he has been so effective in Test matches entering the attack after seven or eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll probably have to be the man up front.

Newcomer 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 nervous thirty-one-year-old. A full stadium crowd, partly English, for the first Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an simple first match, no matter how many newspaper profiles portray him as laid-back. He could be brought onto the field on a sun lounger and still be anxious.

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Who knows, it might all go smoothly for this new attack. It might not work out. What is striking is how quickly Australia have transitioned from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. It's unclear what further injuries the opening match may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go for the Brisbane Test, 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 getting injured early in series and a history of initially small injuries becoming longer layoffs.

Future Uncertain

The back half of the series may witness the primary four bowlers reunited and all going well. Or it might experience transition beginning much sooner than the long-term aim of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is apparently next in line and could be a great day-night Brisbane choice, but after that with choices unclear. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also hurt and has not yet played a Test match. 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 real unknown, and throughout it a chance for the opposing side. You can hear that train approaching, rolling round the corner, and England hasn't seen the success since they don’t know when.