diff --git a/bin/cqlsh b/bin/cqlsh
index 89d094fb68..518b986053 100755
--- a/bin/cqlsh
+++ b/bin/cqlsh
@@ -15,5 +15,12 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-
-python "`python -c "import os;print(os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath('$0')))"`/cqlsh.py" "$@"
+# bash code here; finds a suitable python interpreter and execs this file.
+# prefer unqualified "python" if suitable:
+python -c 'import sys; sys.exit(not (0x020700b0 < sys.hexversion < 0x03000000))' 2>/dev/null \
+    && exec python "`python -c "import os;print(os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath('$0')))"`/cqlsh.py" "$@"
+for pyver in 2.7; do
+    which python$pyver > /dev/null 2>&1 && exec python$pyver "`python$pyver -c "import os;print(os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath('$0')))"`/cqlsh.py" "$@"
+done
+echo "No appropriate python interpreter found." >&2
+exit 1
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/bin/cqlsh.py b/bin/cqlsh.py
index c82a294f2f..b3ec1ac41a 100644
--- a/bin/cqlsh.py
+++ b/bin/cqlsh.py
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@
 """:"
 # bash code here; finds a suitable python interpreter and execs this file.
 # prefer unqualified "python" if suitable:
-python -c 'import sys; sys.exit(not (0x020500b0 < sys.hexversion < 0x03000000))' 2>/dev/null \
+python -c 'import sys; sys.exit(not (0x020700b0 < sys.hexversion < 0x03000000))' 2>/dev/null \
     && exec python "$0" "$@"
-for pyver in 2.6 2.7 2.5; do
+for pyver in 2.7; do
     which python$pyver > /dev/null 2>&1 && exec python$pyver "$0" "$@"
 done
 echo "No appropriate python interpreter found." >&2