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The Ashes could provide a reason to cheer, but this series will also see the Australian team host a greater number of birthdays than Timezone in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald had his 31st a day before the squad was named. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Perth Test. 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 Team Fascination Builds

For a couple of years there has been growing fascination with the average age of this side and particularly the bowling unit. It is unusual to have almost every player near a Test side being above thirty, aside from young mascot Cameron Green and custody-weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that greater age was a problem: a Test squad featuring a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is hardly a disadvantage, and it stands to reason that all of those bowlers are well 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 deep into their thirties. Emerging pacemen have briefly joined squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Transition Forced by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the Big 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 bend when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet become visible.

Now, suddenly, transition is upon them, imposed on this Aussie team in the span of a few weeks. The back injury to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would probably only sit out the first Test, was the Cricket Australia view, and as the first-change bowler behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could comfortably be replaced by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has gone down with a hamstring injury, the balance undergoes a far greater shift with two key bowlers absent rather than a single one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two accurate right-arm bowlers give the balance and control that enables Starc’s left-arm pace and swing to be used more as a weapon of attack. Missing both of them means a major adjustment in the composition of the team. Boland taking the new ball is nothing new in his first-class career, but he has been so successful in Test matches entering the attack after seven or eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll probably have to be the opening bowler.

Newcomer Faces 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 full stadium crowd, half of it English, for the opening Test of a eagerly awaited Ashes series will not make for an simple first match, no matter how many media stories portray him as laid-back. He could be brought onto the ground on a banana lounge and still be anxious.

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 transitioned from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. Who knows what new injuries the first Test may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be fit for Brisbane, and able to continue after Brisbane, given how tricky 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 initially small injuries turning into longer layoffs.

Future Uncertain

The back half of the series may witness the primary four bowlers back together and all performing well. Or it might experience transition beginning much sooner than the long-term aim of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is seemingly the next option and could be a great pink-ball Brisbane choice, but beyond that with options uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also hurt and has not yet played a Test. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm repaired, and this level is no place for easing into one’s work. Beyond them lies the true uncertainty, and amid it all a chance for the visiting team. You can hear that train approaching, rolling round the corner, and the English team hasn't seen the success since they can't recall when.