"Alarm bells are ringing loud": Ex-Ashes star fears for Australia

England players past and present saying Australia’s ageing Ashes side will serve as a huge advantage comes as no surprise, but now a former Aussie Test star has voiced his concerns.

The Aussies named a fairly regulation squad for the Perth Test, with no real shock selections. And while the squad is made up of plenty of stars who have dominated England at home across the last two home Ashes series, the “Dad’s Army” gags started early and age has been a relentless focus ever since.

Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, aged 32 and 34 respectively are out of the opening Test through injury and their replacements, Scott Boland (36), Brendan Doggett (31) and Michael Neser (35), are not exactly spring chickens.

Usman Khawaja will turn 39 during the series while Cameron Green is the only member of the squad under 30.

Mitchell Johnson says “alarm bells are ringing loud and clear”.

"When your leaders are all in their mid-to-late 30s and have heavy workloads banked, the odds eventually turn on you," the former Australia pace bowler wrote in his columns for the West Australian.

"While losing Pat Cummins to injury was already a blow, one injury to a frontline quick is manageable. Losing two out of the big three starts to rewrite the whole script for the Ashes.

"It narrows Australia's margin for error and it forces selectors into decisions they'd hoped they wouldn't have to make this early. It's the sort of scenario that exposes the age profile of the squad.

"The alarm bells are now ringing loud and clear regarding the future. That attack of Lyon, Boland, Starc and Hazlewood are all older than I was when I retired from international cricket."

Johnson didn’t stop there. Speaking with former England captain Michael Atherton, he added: “I’m nervous, you know. I’m really nervous and unsure and I’m not the only one.

“I look at Australia and think OK, they’ve won a lot of Test matches. They’ve done it with this group, but are they coming towards the back end?”

Asked he is agreed with SEN commentator Stuart Broad’s notion that this was the worst Ashes squad the Aussies have had since 2010, Johnson added: “I don’t know about the worst.

“I think it’s a team that has aged, that’s pretty obvious. I’ve been pretty vocal about that and I think it’s England’s best chance since 2010-11. They’ve got some experience but some young and fresh guys too. It’s definitely their best chance since then.”