In the first T20I in Edinburgh, after the bowlers had stemmed Scotland’s bright start, Travis Head produced a brutal hitting display, scoring the most individual runs in a powerplay and hitting a record-tying 17-ball fifty. Australia then stormed to a seven-wicket victory with more than 10 overs remaining.
Leading by George Munsey, the home team started the innings with a good intention and, although they lost wickets in their attempt to maintain a high early run rate, were in a promising position. But, they lost 6 for 44 from 101 for 3 in the twelfth over, thanks to two wickets from Adam Zampa and some effective pace changes from Australia’s quicks on a surface that was slightly two-paced.
“Scotland is blown away by Travis Head’s 80 off 25.”
After Jake Fraser-McGurk had been out for a duck on his T20I debut, Head and Mitchell Marsh produced an incredible display of powerplay hitting to put any thoughts that 154 might be remotely competitive to rest. Australia finished with the second-highest powerplay total in Twenty20 Internationals (113), with 14 deliveries in a row going for boundaries. Head had 73 runs, surpassing Paul Stirling’s 67 runs against the West Indies in 2020.
This year, Fraser-McGurk has been talked about so much that it was easy to forget he was playing in his first Twenty20 international match. However, he was unable to make an impact in his opening inning due to the somewhat surprising sight of Brandon McMullen’s medium pace with the new ball. He attempted to hit his third delivery, but erred and fell into midwicket, where Charlie Cassell made an excellent catch.
However, all notions of a sway towards Australia disappeared in a flurry of restrictions. Brad Wheal’s opening over was taken by Head, who was the MLC’s player of the tournament in July. Attempting to give McMullen another over, which would have cost 20, was not successful. However, Jack Jarvis was spared the real slaughter in the fifth when Marsh took him for thirty with three sixes. After numerous deliveries that ended up in the trees, Scotland’s bowlers were at a loss for words.During the run of 14 straight deliveries that were either a four or a six, Head reached a 17-ball fifty off the first ball of the sixth over, matching Marcus Stoinis’ record as the fastest for Australia in Twenty20 Internationals.
In order to put Australia under some pressure with the ball during the powerplay, Scotland’s opener George Munsey repeatedly produced whip-pulls over the leg side. McMullen also contributed to this early peppering of the boundary.
Munsey took Riley Meredith, who was playing in his first Twenty20 International since 2021, for six deliveries in a row in the fifth over. He then followed that up with another boundary as eighteen came off it. In the next over, Munsey took Scotland to fifty runs, but Josh Inglis made a brilliant catch, diving to his left to gather a thick outside edge.
Shortly after the fielding restrictions ended, McMullen was taken at deep cover, which further hampered Scotland’s progress. Richie Berrington, the captain, appeared to be settling in, but his dismissal against Zampa at long off turned out to be a game-changing moment. After that, Scotland found it difficult to pick up any steam. Stoinis and Cameron Green each bowled four overs in quick succession, costing just 22 runs in their four overs combined.
Meredith, Xavier Bartlett, and Sean Abbott put a strong finish to the innings, with only two exquisite sixes from Jack Jarvis and Mark Watt providing much resistance.
The left-arm spinner was held back to outside the fielding restrictions, perhaps so that he could have been used earlier, but Marsh helped himself to 39 off 11 balls before falling to Watt’s first delivery, while Head had received the majority of attention during the chase.
Although the outcome was already clear at that point, there were a few intriguing moments as Australia scored the last few runs off of Watt’s long ball, which was delivered from a considerable distance behind the bowling crease and twice caused hitters to come off the bat very late. The ball took the leg bail on Inglis’ opening delivery the first time, and it happened again when Stoinis was on strike. According to the Law’s wording (20.4.2.5), the umpire was right both times, but it might serve as a talking point for Scotland’s two upcoming matches as they aim to be more competitive.
Brief scores: Australia 156 for 3 in 9.4 oversv (Travis Head 80, Mitchell Marsh 39, Josh Inglis 27*; Brandon McMullen 1-25, Mark Watt 2-13) beat Scotland 154 for 9 in 20 9vers (George Munsey 28, Richie Berrington 23, Mathew Cross 27; Riley Meredith 1-34, Xavier Bartlett 2 -23, Sean Abbott 3-39, Adam Zampa 2-33, Cameron Green 1-12) by seven wickets
(Cricinfo)
