Australia Begin The Ashes Series with Transition Abruptly Forced Upon an Ageing Team

The historic Ashes series may offer a reason to cheer, but this contest will also witness the Australian team host a greater number of birthdays than Timezone in the nineties. New boy Jake Weatherald celebrated his thirty-first birthday a day before the team was announced. Nathan Lyon celebrates 38 the day preceding the Test in Perth. Beau Webster reaches 32 just before Brisbane, Usman Khawaja will be 39 on the second day in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on the fifth day in Sydney, and Mitchell Starc will be 36 by the time January is out.

Older Team Interest Grows

For two or three years there has been growing fascination with the average age of this team and especially the bowling unit. It is rare to have nearly all player near 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 disadvantage: a Test squad featuring a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is hardly a weakness, and it stands to reason 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 thirties. Younger bowlers have briefly joined squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before vanishing for years with injuries, meaning there has been no obvious replacement plan.

Transition Imposed by Injuries

So far, that hasn’t mattered, as the core four plus Boland have continued performing. Any team knows that having a group of similarly-aged players might mean a batch of simultaneous retirements, but so far transition has remained hypothetical: a process that would certainly be arriving the bend when she comes, but one that had not steamed into view.

Now, suddenly, transition is upon them, imposed on this Aussie team in the span of a short period. The spinal issue to Pat Cummins was greeted with equanimity: he would likely only miss the opening match, was the Cricket Australia view, and as the first bowling change behind Starc and Hazlewood, he could easily be covered for by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has gone down with a hamstring injury, the team balance experiences a much more significant change with two key bowlers 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 speed and movement to be used more as a attacking option. Missing both of them means a fundamental shift in the balance of the team. Boland taking the new ball is not unusual in his first-class career, but he has been so successful in Tests entering the attack after seven or eight overs of early pressure. Now he’ll probably 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 intimidated youngster, 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 simple first match, no matter how many newspaper profiles portray him as relaxed. He could be brought onto the field on a banana lounge and still be anxious.

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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 transitioned from the certainty of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the uncertainty of Starc, Lyon, and others. Who knows what new injuries the opening match may cause. Who knows whether Cummins will be good to go for the Brisbane Test, and able to continue after that match, given how tricky stress fractures can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood might be sidelined, with a track record of going down early in tournaments and a history of initially small injuries becoming extended absences.

Outlook Uncertain

The latter part of the contest may witness the main four bowlers back together and all going well. Or it might experience transition setting in much earlier than the long-term aim of 2027 in England. Not through Neser, who is seemingly next in line and could be a excellent pink-ball Brisbane choice, but beyond that with options unclear. Sean Abbott was in the original team, though he’s now also injured and has never played a Test. Richardson has just had his injury-prone 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 opportunity for the opposing side. You can hear that train a-coming, rolling round the bend, and the English team ain’t seen the sunshine since they don’t know when.