Australia lost the three-Test series to South Africa last month, despite winning the opening game. They drafted Scott Boland in as part of an all-pace attack in the second Test, and he justified the decision with a five-wicket-haul. But after losing the game by an innings, Australia dropped him for the deciding Test, with the usual trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins included alongside Lyon.

Notably, their skipper, Cummins, had a below-par series. He took only six wickets in three matches, while Hazlewood accounted for only two in the last two Tests.

After losing the series, Cummins implied that changes would be made, in style of play or personel. Australia have fended off questions about the age of the core of their side for several years, and the dearth that could form on their retirements. Cummins is the youngest member of their four-horsemen bowling attack at 33, while Hazlewood is next at 35. Mitchell Starc is 36, and Nathan Lyon will turn 39 this month. Boland, their first port of call in one of their pacer's absence, is 37.

Speaking on Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Mark Butcher recalled how Australia struggled when the likes of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Michael Kasprowicz and Jason Gillespie retired. In the aftermath of those retirements, they lost the Ashes in 2010-11, their first Test series loss to England in Australia for 24 years.

“Think back to the great team under Steve Waugh and then Ricky Ponting,” Butcher said. “They had all these fabulous players, most of whom couldn’t get to the first XI. They all got old at exactly the same time as the players who were playing for Australia. Then you were left with a deficit of talent.

“Australia aren’t in that position at the moment. Among the players underneath those in the Test team, you could argue that almost anybody could be picked in the top order outside of Travis Head and Steve Smith, because nobody is really outstanding enough to command a place. That’s an odd situation for Australian cricket.”

To add to Australia's worries over the age of their preferred pacers, Michael Neser, who was in the squad for the South Africa Test series, is also 36.

“But when it comes to the bowlers, here’s the difficult bit: by and large, they are still the best available,” Butcher added. “What you don’t want is for all three of them to disappear at the same time. It might be that Josh Hazlewood stands down and someone like Scott Boland comes in. But he hasn’t got a particularly long international career ahead of him, you’d imagine, because he’s already at an age when fast bowlers can decline very quickly.

“If you have a great team, chances are you have other great players who cannot get into the side. By the time the great players in the team are finished, the bloke who should or could have replaced them might be finished too. So you’re not only replacing the players who are in the side; the players who are out of it might also be past their best.”