The Australian Team Begin Ashes Campaign with Change Suddenly Forced Upon an Ageing Squad

The Ashes may offer a reason to cheer, but this contest will also witness the Aussie side host a greater number of birthdays than an arcade in the 90s. Recent addition Jake Weatherald had his thirty-first birthday a day before the team was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Test in Perth. 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 before January is out.

Ageing Squad Interest Grows

For two or three years there has been growing curiosity with the age of this team and especially the bowling attack. It is rare to have nearly all player near a Test team being above thirty, aside from novelty-sized 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-bowler lineup with 1,568 wickets between them is hardly a disadvantage, and it stands to reason that all of those bowlers are well into their careers.

I've never felt this sure at the start of an Ashes tour | a former player

Perhaps what really highlighted the talking point is that the backup bowlers over that time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also well into their 30s. Emerging pacemen have floated into teams – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before vanishing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Change Imposed by Setbacks

So far, that hasn't been an issue, as the Big Four plus Boland have kept on backing up. Any team knows that having a group of same-generation players might mean a batch of simultaneous 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, abruptly, change is here, forced upon this Aussie team in the space of a few weeks. The back injury to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would probably only miss the opening match, was the team management assessment, and as the first bowling change behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could easily be replaced by Boland.

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

Debutant Confronts Expectations

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at 31 years old himself isn't an overawed youth, but he might become an overawed 31-year-old. A packed stadium, partly English, for the first Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many newspaper profiles describe him as laid-back. He could be wheeled onto the field on a sun lounger and still be anxious.

Register to The Spin

It's uncertain, it might all go swimmingly for this new attack. It might not work out. What is striking is how quickly Australia have moved from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, and others. Who knows what new injuries the first Test may cause. It's unknown whether Cummins will be fit for the Brisbane Test, and able to continue after that match, given how tricky stress injuries can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a track record of getting injured early in series and a history of minor injuries turning into longer layoffs.

Outlook Uncertain

The back half of the series may witness the primary four bowlers reunited and all performing well. Or it might experience transition beginning much earlier than the stretch goal of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is apparently the next option and could be a great day-night Brisbane option, but after that with options 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 crash-test-dummy arm repaired, and this format is not the place for gradually starting one’s work. Beyond them lies the real unknown, and throughout it opportunity for the visiting team. You can hear that train approaching, coming around the corner, and England ain’t seen the success since they don’t know when.