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.
Chasing an under-par target of 155 on a ground with small dimensions, Australia led by Travis Head‘s blitzing 25-ball 80 made a mockery of the chase as they got home before the halfway mark of their innings. Australia’s white-ball tour of the United Kingdom started in rampaging fashion as they decimated Scotland by seven wickets in the opening game of the three-match T20I series in Edinburgh on Wednesday (September 4).
Pitch and Toss
“The sun is shining bright today and the boundaries are relatively short here. Straight boundary is 64 and the square boundaries are around 66. The surface looks very firm and it is a very difficult ground to defend,” reckons Preston Mommsen.
Australian skipper Mitchell Marsh won the toss and chose to field with Jason Fraser McGurk making his debut in international colors for Australia. Scotland skipper Richie Berrington who also wanted to bowl first handed debut to their two players Cassell and Jasper.
George Munsey starts positively in Powerplay for Scotland
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.
Earlier in the afternoon, Scotland put up a lukewarm batting effort on a decent surface with none of the batters going past 30 although quite a few of them did manage starts. George Munsey (28 off 16) easily looked the most fluent of the lot while Richie Berrington and Matthew Cross also got 20s but the hosts needed one or two of their batters to go deep into the innings. That, however, didn’t happen as Australia struck at regular intervals.
Stellar Australian bowlers restrict Scotland to 154 in 20 overs
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.
From 101/3, Scotland slipped to 117/6 in the matter of 21 deliveries and it eventually affected their total by about 20-25 runs. In hindsight, it may not have mattered much, given how Australia executed their chase but a 175-plus total would have given Scotland a relatively better chance to put early pressure.
Zavier Bartlett (2-23) and Adam Zampa (2-33) were the most impactful bowlers for Australia while Sean Abbott (3-39) also picked up timely strikes.
Rampant Travis Head blows away Scottish bowlers in the Powerplay
Chasing an under-par target of 155 on a ground with small dimensions, Australia led by Travis Head’s blitzing 25-ball 80 made a mockery of the chase as they got home before the halfway mark of their innings.
Travis Head’s assault shattered multiple records, including the joint-fastest fifty (off 17 balls) for Australia in the format, equalling teammate Marcus Stoinis. The bigger records were the highest individual score by a batter and the team total in the powerplay – both of which were destroyed.
Travis Head faced 22 off the 36 legal deliveries in the powerplay and smashed 73 off them, while Australia hammered 113 inside the first six overs to leave the home crowd in a state of shock. It was a game that the visitors were expected to win but the manner of domination was unreal.
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. Travis 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, Travis 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.
Destructive batting by Mitchell Marsh and Watt’s long ball makes the chase interesting but an easy one for Australia
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.
Mitchell Marsh (39 off 12) was also destructive during his stay in the middle while Josh Inglis (27* off 13) provided the finishing touches to ensure that the game was done in a jiffy. The severity of the carnage lies in one stunning start – 30 of the 58 deliveries faced by Australia were boundaries – 20 fours and ten sixes. Scotland’s bowlers weren’t too guilty in their radar but on such a ground, the margin for error was just too small, as the home side found out in a harsh manner.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Richie Berrington the loosing Scotland skipper said : That’s what you expect from one of the best teams in the world. We started the game pretty well, decent powerplay but we failed to kick on, credit to the Australian bowlers, they did not allow us to capitalize and put up a big score on the board.
Great experience for some of the younger guys and it’s a chance for us to learn from this, dust ourselves down and a great opportunity in a couple of days’ time, if we can execute well, we can get back in the game. As a team we wanted to keep improving all the time, and playing against Australia will only help us get better.
We have to keep that belief and we have shown we can compete when we play our best cricket, unfortunately we did not do that today but we will try to do that in a couple of days.
Mitchell Marsh the winning Australia skipper said : Always nice to start the tour with a win, you talk about winning the 1st game in a three-game series. [on the bowlers] Thought they were all really good, really clear about what they were trying to do, lot of energy and the boys fielded well, that’s all we can ask. The Scottish people are extremely proud of their cricket and who they are and the Australian cricket team are proud to be playing here and are loving our time here.
Travis Head Player of the Match for his 80 runs said : Nice way to get underway, we loved our time here so far. I was a bit nervous, but nice to get some runs with the captain today. It has been a nice period for the last couple of years, really enjoying the environment and a few of us that have been around for a while and also loving the atmosphere with quite a few youngsters coming in.
Obviously losing Jake early and not sure what the wicket was going to to do, but nice to get into my groove and that is my role in the team which is to maximize the powerplay and I think we did that.
How many times have you seen a side chase 155 in 9.4 overs! Australia might not have played a T20I since the World Cup but any concerns regarding their readiness or being rusty have been put to bed in the most emphatic of manners. This is just men vs boys stuff here today at the Grange in Edinburgh. Scotland may have come really close to upsetting Australia in the T20I World Cup but they have been handed the harshest of lessons.
After a 3rd-ball duck for Fraser-McGurk on debut, what followed was just an unreal display of power-hitting headlined by Travis Head. Every bowler who came saw them being destroyed and Travis Head was complemented by Mitch Marsh who too played a blinder. 113 – a world record score – came in the powerplay as Scotland were left hiding nowhere looking for answers. Some respite came in the form a double-wicket over from Mark Watt but Australia were not in the mood to play safe after that as Josh Inglis carried on from Travis Head’s work.
Australia were absolutely sensational with the bat especially Travis Head. 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 Travis 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. Australia were absolutely sensational with the bat especially Travis Head. Game 2 is on Friday at the same venue.