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The Ashes may offer a reason to cheer, but this contest will also witness the Aussie side celebrate a greater number of birthdays than an arcade in the 90s. Recent addition Jake Weatherald had his 31st a day prior to the team was named. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day preceding the Perth Test. Beau Webster reaches 32 just ahead of Brisbane, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on the second day in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood becomes 35 on the fifth day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 by the time January is over.

Older Team Fascination Grows

For two or three years there has been mounting fascination with the average 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 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 scarcely a disadvantage, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are well into their careers.

I can’t remember ever being so confident at the start of an away Ashes series | a former player

Perhaps what most amplified the discussion is that the backup bowlers over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also well into their 30s. Emerging pacemen have briefly joined teams – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Transition Forced by Setbacks

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the core four plus Boland have kept on performing. Any team knows that having a group of similarly-aged players might mean a batch of similarly-timed departures, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a train that would indeed be coming round the mountain when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet become visible.

Now, suddenly, change is upon them, imposed on this Australian squad in the space of a few weeks. The back injury to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would probably only sit out the opening match, was the Cricket Australia assessment, and as the first bowling change behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could comfortably be covered for by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has been sidelined with a hamstring injury, the team balance undergoes a far greater change with two players absent rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers give the stability and precision that enables Starc’s left-arm pace and swing to be used more as a attacking option. Losing both of them means a major adjustment in the balance of the side. Boland handling the new ball is not unusual 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 probably have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Faces Pressure

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at 31 years old himself isn't an intimidated youngster, 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 newspaper profiles describe him as laid-back. He could be brought onto the field on a banana lounge and still be nervous.

Register to The Spin

It's uncertain, it might all go swimmingly for this revamped bowling lineup. It might not work out. What is striking is how quickly Australia have transitioned from the surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. It's unclear what new injuries the opening match may bring. It's unknown whether Cummins will be fit for the Brisbane Test, and good to back up after that match, given how tricky stress fractures can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be out, with a track record of getting injured early in series and a history of minor injuries turning into extended absences.

Future Unclear

The latter part of the contest may see the main four bowlers reunited and all performing well. Or it might see transition beginning much earlier than the long-term aim of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is apparently the next option and could be a excellent pink-ball Brisbane choice, but beyond that with options unclear. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also hurt and has not yet played a Test match. Richardson has just had his injury-prone arm repaired, and this level is not the place for easing into one’s work. Beyond them lies the true uncertainty, and throughout it a chance for the visiting team. You can sense that train a-coming, rolling round the bend, and England hasn't seen the success since they can't recall when.