Australia Enter The Ashes Series with Change Abruptly Imposed on an Ageing Team

The Ashes could provide one cause for celebration, but this series will also witness the Australian team celebrate more birthday parties than an arcade in the 90s. Recent addition Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day before the squad was announced. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day preceding the Test in Perth. Beau Webster turns 32 just ahead of Brisbane, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood becomes 35 on the fifth day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 by the time January is over.

Ageing Squad Interest Builds

For two or three years there has been growing fascination with the average age of this side and especially the bowling attack. It is unusual to have nearly all player in a Test side being over 30, aside from novelty-sized mascot Cameron Green and occasional visitor Sam Konstas. But it wasn't necessarily true that greater age was a problem: a Test team boasting 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 careers.

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Perhaps what really highlighted the talking point is that the backup bowlers over that period, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, are also deep into their thirties. Younger bowlers have floated into squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing for years with injury, meaning there has been no clear line of succession.

Transition Imposed by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the core four plus Boland have kept on backing up. Any side knows that having a batch of similarly-aged players might mean a batch of simultaneous retirements, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a train that would certainly be arriving the bend when she comes, but one that hadn’t yet become visible.

Now, abruptly, change is upon them, forced upon this Aussie team in the span of a short period. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would probably only miss the opening match, 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 strain, the balance undergoes a much more significant change with two key bowlers missing rather than a single one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-armers give the stability and precision that allows 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 team. 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 or eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll likely have to be the opening bowler.

Debutant Confronts Pressure

Behind him will come Brendan Doggett, who at 31 years old himself won’t be an overawed youth, but he might become an overawed 31-year-old. A packed stadium, partly English, for the first Test of a eagerly awaited Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many media stories portray him as laid-back. He could be wheeled onto the field on a banana lounge and still be nervous.

Register to The Spin

Who knows, it might all go swimmingly for this new attack. It might not work out. 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. It's unclear what further injuries the opening match may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be fit for Brisbane, and able to continue after Brisbane, given how tricky stress injuries can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a history of getting injured early in tournaments and a pattern of initially small injuries becoming longer layoffs.

Future Unclear

The back half of the contest may witness the main four bowlers back together and all going well. Or it might see transition beginning much sooner than the long-term aim of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is apparently the next option and could be a great pink-ball Brisbane option, but beyond that with choices unclear. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also hurt and has never played a Test match. Richardson has just had his crash-test-dummy arm repaired, and this level is not the place for easing into one’s work. After them lies the true uncertainty, and amid it all opportunity for the visiting team. You can hear that train a-coming, rolling round the corner, and England ain’t seen the sunshine since they can't recall when.