Hopeful v Masterful

England 400 all out
v India 631 all out
England 182-6
close on Day 4

Sunday 11 December 2016

Played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Twitter @ball_sup

21 Indian Beer Ticks. We're chipping away at it. Another schlep down to Woodside in Colaba. Harder work today. We were shown to a table. I asked the two Indian lads on the next table what they were drinking. Independence IPA. So, I asked the waiter whether all the beers listed on the menu were on. Yes Sir. And whether there were any extras not listed. No Sir. So how come they're drinking Independence IPA & it's not listed. Extra Sir.

Oh fuck it, I'll have one of these Gateway, Explorers on the menu here. Not available Sir. To cap it all, the Credit Card machine was working for some types of cards, not others. Harder work.

I did however scoop up two new Gateway Brewing ticks. Gateway, White Zen, German Wheat. OK. Nothing special. But, nothing awful either. Bright, fresh, zinging.

Gateway, Doppelganger, Dunkel. Nice beer. More bitter than I was expecting. But, dominated by a pleasant liquorice.

I'll wait for the twentieth wicket to fall. But, commonsense suggests England are getting pasted here. Rashid is banging it way outside the right handers leg stump to try & get some action out of the footmarks. Ashwin is ragging it miles back into the right hander. He had Bairstow in trouble of the all sorts. One bowler hopeful. One bowler masterful.

And, salute to Bairstow. He weathered it & is still there. Fucking nightwatchman come & gone after facing 18. Jennings done first ball. Moeen giving round the corner catching practice to his third ball. Stokes reverse sweep onto his foot & balloons for a catch. Difficult out there, I'll grant. But. Looks Ugly.

415/852