Stuart Broad and (Sir) Jimmy Anderson are finally gone for England.
So it’s perhaps unsurprising that heading into the 2025/26 Ashes there’s been plenty of banter about the age of the Australian Test side—most recently coming from legendary Australian captain Steve Waugh—specifically a bowling attack that has been terrorising international batting line-ups for well over a decade.
Given the core quartet of Pat Cummins (32), Mitchell Starc (35), Josh Hazlewood (34) and Nathan Lyon (37) are all considerably closer to the end of their glittering Test careers than the start—with Usman Khawaja (38), Steve Smith (36), Scott Boland (36) and Alex Carey (34) very much in the same category—the talk of succession planning is only likely to grow louder over the summer.
The current Australian side already holds the record for the oldest Test side to take the field in the 21st Century.
MORE: Konstas falls cheaply—leaves ball that crashes into middle stump
That mark was set at Lords in this year’s losing World Test Championship final against South Africa with an average age of 33 years and 156 days (Cameron Green, 26, was the only Australian player under 30) and the record may well be broken in Perth and again in every subsequent Test this summer.
While age may only be a number, its collective march in the national side poses major selection questions that will need to be answered soon enough, for while stumps is eventually called on all Test careers, father time remains stubbornly not out.
How well the Australian selectors balance the inevitable transition may be one of the the greatest legacies of the coming summer, win or lose against England.
What is the oldest Test cricket side ever?
If you’re wondering about the oldest ever Test cricket team, that record belongs to England.
In a four-Test tour of the West Indies way back in 1929-30, the English team’s average age was a remarkable 37 years and 188 days.
The figure was inflated considerably through the inclusion of 50-year-old opener George Gunn and 52-year-old spin bowler Wilfred Rhodes, along with two other players in their forties, all-rounder Nigel Haig and batsman Patsy Hendren.