Australia Enter Ashes Series with Change Abruptly Forced Upon an Older Team

The Ashes may offer one cause for celebration, but this series will also see the Australian team host more birthday parties than Timezone in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day prior to the squad was announced. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day preceding the Perth Test. Beau Webster turns 32 just before Brisbane, 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 by the time January is out.

Older Squad Fascination Builds

For a couple of years there has been mounting fascination with the average age of this side and especially the bowling attack. It is unusual to have almost every 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 older age was a problem: a Test squad boasting a four-man attack with over 1,500 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 most amplified the talking point is that the backup bowlers over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their 30s. Emerging pacemen have floated into squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injury, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Change Forced by Setbacks

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the Big Four plus Boland have continued performing. Any team knows that having a group of same-generation players might mean a group of similarly-timed departures, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a train that would indeed be coming round the bend when she comes, but one that had not become visible.

Now, abruptly, transition is upon them, forced upon this Australian squad in the span of a few weeks. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would likely only miss the first Test, was the Cricket Australia view, 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 much more significant shift with two players missing rather than a single one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two accurate right-arm bowlers give the balance and control that allows Starc’s left-arm pace and swing to be used more as a attacking option. Missing both of them means a major adjustment in the balance of the side. Boland handling the new ball is not unusual in his domestic career, but he has been so effective in Tests coming on after seven to eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll likely have to be the opening bowler.

Newcomer Confronts Pressure

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at thirty-one years of age himself isn't an overawed youth, but he might become an nervous thirty-one-year-old. A full stadium crowd, partly English, for the opening 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 sun lounger and still be anxious.

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Who knows, 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 surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. Who knows what new injuries the opening match may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be fit for Brisbane, and good to back up after that match, given how tricky stress fractures can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a track record of getting injured early in series and a history of minor injuries becoming longer layoffs.

Future Unclear

The back half of the contest may see the primary four bowlers reunited and all performing well. Or it might see transition setting in much earlier than the stretch goal of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is seemingly the next option and could be a great pink-ball Brisbane choice, but after that with choices unclear. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also injured and has never played a Test match. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm put back on, and this level is not the place for easing into one’s work. Beyond them lies the real unknown, and throughout it a chance for the visiting team. You can hear that train a-coming, coming around the corner, and the English team hasn't seen the success since they don’t know when.