Past lessons can be learned as Australia’s ageing Test line-up looms as headache | Martin Pegan

With just one player under 30 in the XI that will face India in next week’s first Test, there is a clear need for more red-ball candidates to emerge

Australian cricket has had several reminders that Father Time remains undefeated. The lingering effects of an end for every cricketer and every era have been hammered home in recent decades as fallow years have followed bumper crops of all-conquering Australians. Yet it remains to be seen whether the lessons of the past have truly been learned as the current men’s Test team starts another summer of cricket rolling towards a cliff edge.

The XI to face India in Perth includes just one, untried player under the age of 30. Twenty-five-year-old Nathan McSweeney will walk out against a pace attack led by Jasprit Bumrah, despite compiling scores of 14 and 25 last week against India A in the only first-class match in which he has opened. While the absence of runs, let alone experience, in the specialist role was not enough to rule out McSweeney in the Great Australian Bat Off, the lack of obvious alternatives surely helped him secure the place. It looks a punt worth taking, despite the fact he will become the first Australian in 47 years to open in his Test debut without batting there at Sheffield Shield level.

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