The Ashes may offer a reason to cheer, but this series will also see the Aussie side celebrate more birthday parties than Timezone in the nineties. Recent addition Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day prior to the squad was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day preceding the Test in Perth. Beau Webster turns 32 just ahead of the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the final day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 before January is out.
For a couple of years there has been growing fascination with the average age of this team and especially the bowling attack. It is rare to have nearly all 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 older age was a disadvantage: a Test squad featuring a four-bowler lineup with over 1,500 wickets between them is scarcely a weakness, and it makes sense that all of those bowlers are deep into their careers.
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Perhaps what really highlighted the discussion is that the backup bowlers over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their 30s. Emerging pacemen have briefly joined teams – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before vanishing for years with injury, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.
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 group of similarly-timed retirements, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a train that would certainly be coming round the bend when she comes, but one that had not steamed into view.
Now, abruptly, transition is upon them, forced upon this Australian squad in the span of a short period. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would likely only miss 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 balance experiences a much more significant 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 speed and movement to be used more as a attacking option. Missing both of them means a fundamental shift in the composition of the team. Boland taking the new ball is not unusual in his domestic career, but he has been so effective in Tests coming on after seven or eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll likely have to be the man up front.
Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at 31 years old himself won’t be an intimidated youngster, but he might become an nervous thirty-one-year-old. A packed stadium, partly English, for the first 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 wheeled onto the ground on a banana lounge and still be nervous.
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Who knows, it might all go smoothly for this new attack. It might not. What is notable is how quickly Australia have moved from the surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, and others. Who knows what new injuries the first Test may cause. It's unknown whether Cummins will be good to go for Brisbane, and able to continue after Brisbane, given how complicated stress injuries can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be out, with a track record of getting injured early in tournaments and a pattern of minor injuries turning into longer layoffs.
The latter part of the series may witness the primary 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 apparently next in line and could be a great pink-ball Brisbane option, but after that with choices uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the initial squad, though he’s now also injured and has not yet played a Test. Richardson has just had his injury-prone arm repaired, and this level is no place for easing into one’s work. Beyond them lies the real unknown, and throughout it a chance for the opposing side. You can sense that train a-coming, coming around the corner, and England hasn't seen the sunshine since they can't recall when.
Elara is a seasoned writer and digital storyteller with a passion for exploring diverse literary genres and empowering others through words.
