Australia enter the Ashes series with a transition abruptly forced on an aging squad | Geoff Lemon

TThe Ashes may provide one reason to celebrate, but this series will also see the Australian team host more birthday parties than Timezone did in the 90s. New boy Jake Weatherald had his 31st the day before the squad was announced. Nathan Lyon turns 38 the day before the Perth Test. Beau Webster turns 32 just before Brisbane, Usman Khawaja turns 39 on day two in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood turns 35 on day five in Sydney and Mitchell Starc turns 36 before January is out.

For the past two or three years, there has been a growing fascination with the age of this team and especially the bowling attack. Unusually, almost every player around a Test squad is over 30, apart from new mascot Cameron Green and custody weekend visitor Sam Konstas. But it didn’t logically follow that older age was a problem: a Test team with a four-man attack with 1,568 wickets between them is hardly a disadvantage, and it goes without saying that all those bowlers are deep into their careers.

What may have added to the talking point most is that the reserve players at the time, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, were also well into their 30s. Younger bowlers have found themselves in squads – Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson – before disappearing with injury for years, meaning there is no clear line of succession.

So far that hasn’t mattered as the Big Four and Boland have continued to be supportive. Every team knows that having a group of players the same age could mean a series of retirements at the same time, but so far the transition has remained theoretical: a train that would indeed come around the mountain when it comes, but which had not yet come into view.

Now a transition has abruptly arrived, being forced upon this Australian team in the space of a few weeks. Pat Cummins’ back injury was greeted with equanimity: he was likely to miss only the first Test, was the opinion of Cricket Australia, and as the first substitute bowler behind Starc and Hazlewood he could be comfortably covered by Boland.

But now that Hazlewood has gone down with a hamstring injury, the balance is undergoing a much bigger shift: there are two players missing instead of one. Cummins and Hazlewood as the two tight-line right-handers provide the balance and control that allows the pace and swing of Starc’s left arm to be used more as an attacking weapon. The loss of both of them represents a fundamental shift in the balance of the team. Boland taking the new ball is nothing new in his first-class career, but he has been so effective in Tests that have followed after seven or eight overs of initial attacks. Now he will probably have to be the man up front.

Behind him comes Brendan Doggett, who at 31 won’t be an overwhelmed youngster himself, but he might be an overwhelmed 31-year-old. A packed stadium crowd, half of them English, for the opening Test of a wildly anticipated Ashes series will not make for an easy debut, no matter how many newspaper profiles describe him as relaxed. He could be floored on a banana lounge and still be nervous.

Who knows, maybe everything will go well with this new attack. Maybe not. What is remarkable is how quickly Australia has gone from the surety of Starc, Lyon, Cummins, Hazlewood to the unknown of Starc, Lyon, mumble mumble. Who knows what new injuries the first test will bring. Who knows if Cummins will be good for Brisbane, and good to back up after Brisbane, given how tricky stress fractures can be. Who knows how long Hazlewood will be out, with a history of going out early in the series and a history of initially minor injuries that turned into longer layoffs.

In the back half of the series, the four primary bowlers can be reunited and all goes well. Or the transition could happen much sooner than England’s ambitious target of 2027. Not through Neser, who is apparently next in line and could be a great option for Brisbane, but otherwise with unclear choices. Sean Abbott was in the first team, although he is now also injured and has never played a Test. Richardson has just replaced his dummy arm for the crash test, and this format is not suitable for taking it easy. Beyond that lies the real unknown, and opportunities everywhere for the visiting team. You can hear that train coming, rolling around the bend, and England hasn’t seen the sun because they don’t know when.