diff --git a/java/yb-cql/src/test/java/org/yb/cql/TestBasicStatements.java b/java/yb-cql/src/test/java/org/yb/cql/TestBasicStatements.java
index b9eaa3623873..dc73bc0ac6ed 100644
--- a/java/yb-cql/src/test/java/org/yb/cql/TestBasicStatements.java
+++ b/java/yb-cql/src/test/java/org/yb/cql/TestBasicStatements.java
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
 import org.junit.Ignore;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
+import com.datastax.driver.core.Session;
+
 public class TestBasicStatements extends BaseCQLTest {
   @Test
   public void testCreateTable() throws Exception {
@@ -23,12 +25,20 @@ public void testCreateTable() throws Exception {
   }
 
   // We need to work on reporting error from SQL before activating this test.
-  @Ignore
+  @Test
   public void testInvalidStatement() throws Exception {
     LOG.info("Execute nothing ...");
     thrown.expect(com.datastax.driver.core.exceptions.SyntaxError.class);
-    thrown.expectMessage("unknown statement");
+    thrown.expectMessage("Invalid SQL Statement");
     session.execute("NOTHING");
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testUnsupportedProtocol() throws Exception {
+    thrown.expect(com.datastax.driver.core.exceptions.UnsupportedProtocolVersionException.class);
+    Session s = getDefaultClusterBuilder()
+                .allowBetaProtocolVersion()
+                .build()
+                .connect();
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/yb/yql/cql/cqlserver/cql_message.cc b/src/yb/yql/cql/cqlserver/cql_message.cc
index a724cc190e8d..3927fb270068 100644
--- a/src/yb/yql/cql/cqlserver/cql_message.cc
+++ b/src/yb/yql/cql/cqlserver/cql_message.cc
@@ -218,8 +218,8 @@ bool CQLRequest::ParseRequest(
     error_response->reset(
         new ErrorResponse(
             header.stream_id, ErrorResponse::Code::PROTOCOL_ERROR,
-            Substitute("Protocol version $0 not supported. Supported versions are between "
-                "$1 and $2.", header.version, kMinimumVersion, kCurrentVersion)));
+            Substitute("Invalid or unsupported protocol version $0. Supported versions are between "
+                       "$1 and $2.", header.version, kMinimumVersion, kCurrentVersion)));
     return false;
   }
 
diff --git a/src/yb/yql/cql/cqlserver/cqlserver-test.cc b/src/yb/yql/cql/cqlserver/cqlserver-test.cc
index 7c329e237875..45d2ef4ef7a5 100644
--- a/src/yb/yql/cql/cqlserver/cqlserver-test.cc
+++ b/src/yb/yql/cql/cqlserver/cqlserver-test.cc
@@ -159,9 +159,10 @@ TEST_F(TestCQLService, StartupRequest) {
       BINARY_STRING("\x05\x00\x00\x00\x01" "\x00\x00\x00\x16"
                     "\x00\x01" "\x00\x0b" "CQL_VERSION"
                                "\x00\x05" "3.0.0"),
-      BINARY_STRING("\x84\x00\x00\x00\x00" "\x00\x00\x00\x4f"
-                    "\x00\x00\x00\x0a" "\x00\x49"
-                    "Protocol version 5 not supported. Supported versions are between 3 and 4."));
+      BINARY_STRING("\x84\x00\x00\x00\x00" "\x00\x00\x00\x58"
+                    "\x00\x00\x00\x0a" "\x00\x52"
+                    "Invalid or unsupported protocol version 5. "
+                    "Supported versions are between 3 and 4."));
 
   // Send STARTUP request with compression
   SendRequestAndExpectResponse(