Australia 156 for 3 (Head 80) beat Scotland 154 for 9 (Abbott 3-39) by seven wickets
Travis Head produced a brutal display of hitting, scoring the most individual runs in a powerplay and hitting a record-equalling 17-ball fifty, as Australia raced to a seven-wicket victory with more than 10 overs to spare in the first T20I in Edinburgh after the bowlers had pulled back a bright start from Scotland.
The home side came out of the blocks with good intent, led by George Munsey, and were promisingly placed despite shipping wickets in their attempt to keep up a high early run rate. However, from 101 for 3 in the 12th over they lost 6 for 44 with the changes of pace from Australia’s quicks proving effective on a slightly two-paced surface alongside two wickets from Adam Zampa.
Any notion that 154 may be close to competitive was put to bed in an extraordinary display of powerplay hitting by Head and Mitchell Marsh after Jake Fraser-McGurk had fallen for a duck on his T20I debut. At one stage 14 consecutive deliveries were boundaries as Australia finished with the second-highest powerplay total in T20Is of 113 for 1 of which Head had 73 himself, beating Paul Stirling’s 67 runs against West Indies in 2020.
Head’s onslaught (and some Marsh)
Given how much he has been spoken about this year, it was easy to forget that Fraser-McGurk was making his T20I debut. But he couldn’t leave a mark on his first innings as he faced up to the somewhat unexpected sight of Brandon McMullen’s medium pace with the new ball. Looking to pull his third delivery, he miscued into midwicket where Charlie Cassell took a superbly judged catch.
But any thoughts of a wobble for Australia vanished in a cavalcade of boundaries. Head, who was player of the tournament in the MLC in July, took three fours of Brad Wheal’s first over and giving McMullen a second over didn’t pay off as it cost 20. But the real carnage was saved for Jack Jarvis in the fifth as he was taken for 30 with three sixes by Marsh. Scotland’s bowlers had no response with multiple deliveries going into the trees.
Off the first ball of the sixth over, Head went to a 17-ball fifty to equal Marcus Stoinis’ record as the fastest for Australia in T20Is during the run of 14 consecutive deliveries being either a four or six.
Munsey’s powerplay promise
The early peppering of the boundary had come from Scotland opener George Munsey as he produced repeated whip-pulls over the leg side to ensure Australia were under some pressure with the ball in the powerplay as McMullen also played his part.
In the fifth over Munsey sent consecutive deliveries from Riley Meredith, playing his first T20I since 2021, for six and followed that with another boundary as 18 came off it. Munsey brought up Scotland’s fifty in the next over, but then fell to an excellent catch by Josh Inglis who dived to his left to collect a thick outside edge.
Adam Zampa picked up a couple of wickets•AFP/Getty Images
Scotland’s fade
Scotland’s progress was further dented when McMullen was taken at deep cover shortly after the fielding restrictions ended. There were signs of captain Richie Berrington starting to get settled but his dismissal, caught at long-off against Zampa, proved a turning point in the innings. From there Scotland struggled to regain any momentum. Consecutive overs from Stoinis and Cameron Green went for just four apiece as the combined four overs from the two allrounders cost only 22 runs.
Meredith, Xavier Bartlett and Sean Abbott closed out the innings strongly with only a brace of handsome sixes by Jack Jarvis and Mark Watt offering much in response.
Watt’s long ball
While most attention in the chase had been on Head, Marsh helped himself to 39 off 11 balls before falling to Watt’s first delivery with the left-arm spinner held back to outside the fielding restrictions when perhaps he could have been used earlier.
By that stage the result was inevitable, but there were a couple of interesting moments as Australia knocked off the remaining runs with Watt’s long ball – delivered from well back from the bowling crease – twice seeing batters pull away very late. The first occasion was Inglis’ opening delivery and the ball took the leg bail then it happened again when Stoinis was on strike. By the wording of the Law (20.4.2.5) the umpire was correct both times, but it could well provide a talking point in the next two matches when Scotland will hope to be more competitive.
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
