Travis Head’s 80 off 25 helped power the Australians past Scotland by seven wickets in the opener of their three-match T20I series in Edinburgh.
It took the South Australian just 17 balls to reach his fifty – tying the country’s record – as he finished with the second-highest strike rate of any innings with a minimum of 25 balls.
It marked Australia’s first international outing since their unsuccessful 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign.
Jake Fraser-McGurk was rewarded with a T20I debut but was unable to make an impact being dismissed on the third ball of the innings without troubling the scorers.
The hosts got off to a reasonable start with George Munsey (28 off 16), Brandon McMullen (19 off 15), Richie Berrington (23 off 20) and Matthew Cross (27 off 21) getting off to starts before falling.
At 3-for-101 in the 11th over, the Scots found themselves in a fine position before losing six wickets for 53 runs to finish their innings at 9-for-154.
Sean Abbott took three wickets with Adam Zampa and Xavier Bartlett taking two apiece.
Despite losing Fraser-McGurk early, Head and Mitchell Marsh (39 off 12) steadied the ship with a 34-ball, 113-run partnership to send the Australians on their way before Josh Inglis (27 off 13) helped to finish things off.
The second match of the series will be played tomorrow night (11:00pm AEST) as the Australians look to secure a series win.
