The Australian Team Begin The Ashes Campaign with Change Abruptly Imposed on an Ageing Team

The Ashes could provide one cause for celebration, but this series will also witness the Aussie side host a greater number of birthdays than Timezone in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day prior to the squad was named. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Test in Perth. Beau Webster turns 32 just before the Brisbane match, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on the second day in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood becomes 35 on the final day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 before January is over.

Older Squad Interest Builds

For a couple of years there has been growing curiosity with the age of this side and particularly the bowling unit. It is rare to have almost every player near a Test side being above thirty, except for young mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it didn’t logically follow that greater age was a disadvantage: a Test squad boasting a four-bowler lineup with over 1,500 wickets between them is hardly a weakness, 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 away Ashes series | a former player

Perhaps what most amplified the talking point 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 disappearing for years with injury, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Change Imposed by Setbacks

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the core four plus Boland have kept on performing. Any team knows that having a group of same-generation players might mean a batch of simultaneous departures, but so far change has remained hypothetical: a train that would certainly be arriving the bend when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet steamed into view.

Now, abruptly, change is upon them, imposed on this Australian squad in the span of a short period. The back injury to Pat Cummins was taken in stride: he would likely only sit out the opening match, was the Cricket Australia assessment, 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 team balance undergoes a much more significant shift with two players absent rather than 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 weapon of attack. Losing both of them means a fundamental shift in the balance of the team. Boland handling the new ball is nothing new in his first-class career, but he has been so effective in Tests entering the attack after seven or eight overs of initial onslaught. Now he’ll likely have to be the man up front.

Newcomer Confronts Pressure

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 full stadium crowd, half of it English, for the first Test of a deliriously anticipated Ashes series will not make for an simple first match, no matter how many newspaper profiles portray him as laid-back. He could be wheeled onto the ground on a sun lounger and still be nervous.

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Who knows, it might all go smoothly for this new attack. It might not work out. What is notable is how quickly Australia have transitioned from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. It's unclear what further injuries the opening match may bring. Who knows whether Cummins will be fit for the Brisbane Test, and good to back up after Brisbane, given how tricky stress fractures can be. It's uncertain how long Hazlewood might be out, with a history of getting injured early in series and a history of initially small injuries turning into longer layoffs.

Outlook Unclear

The back half of the series may witness the primary four bowlers reunited and all going well. Or it might experience transition setting in much earlier than the long-term aim of 2027 in the UK. Not through Neser, who is seemingly next in line and could be a great day-night Brisbane option, but after that with choices uncertain. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also injured and has never played a Test. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm put back on, and this format is no place for easing into one’s work. Beyond them lies the true uncertainty, and amid it all opportunity for the visiting team. You can sense that change a-coming, rolling round the corner, and the English team ain’t seen the sunshine since they can't recall when.