🔗 Share this article

The historic Ashes series may offer a reason to cheer, but this contest will also see the Australian team host a greater number of birthdays than an arcade in the nineties. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day before the team was named. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day preceding the Perth Test. Beau Webster reaches 32 just before Brisbane, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on the second day in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the fifth day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 before January is over.

Older Squad Fascination Grows

For two or three years there has been growing fascination with the age of this team and particularly the bowling attack. It is unusual to have nearly all player in a Test team being above thirty, except for novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that greater age was a disadvantage: a Test squad boasting a four-man attack 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 start of an away Ashes series | Mark Ramprakash

Perhaps what really highlighted 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 squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before vanishing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Change Imposed by Injuries

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the Big Four plus Boland have continued performing. Any team knows that having a batch of similarly-aged players might mean a batch of simultaneous departures, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a process that would indeed be coming round the mountain when she comes, but one that had not become visible.

Now, suddenly, change is here, imposed on this Australian squad in the space of a short period. The back injury to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would likely only miss the opening match, 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 balance undergoes a far greater change with two key bowlers absent rather than one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers give the balance and control that allows Starc’s left-arm speed and movement to be used more as a attacking option. Missing both of them means a fundamental shift in the composition of the side. Boland handling the new ball is not unusual in his first-class career, but he has been so successful in Test matches entering the attack after seven or eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Newcomer Faces Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at 31 years old himself isn't an intimidated youngster, but he might become an overawed 31-year-old. A full stadium crowd, half of it English, for the first Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many media stories describe him as relaxed. He could be brought onto the ground on a banana lounge and still be nervous.

Register to our cricket newsletter

Who knows, it might all go smoothly for this revamped bowling lineup. It might not work out. What is striking is how rapidly Australia have moved from the surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. Who knows what new injuries the first Test may bring. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go for Brisbane, and able to continue after that match, given how complicated stress fractures can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be out, with a track record of getting injured early in tournaments and a pattern of initially small injuries turning into extended absences.

Outlook Unclear

The back half of the contest may witness the primary four bowlers reunited and all performing well. Or it might experience transition beginning much earlier than the long-term aim of 2027 in the UK. Not through Neser, who is apparently next in line and could be a great pink-ball Brisbane option, but after that with options uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also hurt and has never played a Test. Richardson has just had his injury-prone 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 visiting team. You can sense that train approaching, coming around the bend, and the English team ain’t seen the sunshine since they don’t know when.