Jonny Bairstow ready for challenge of batting No. 5 and keeping wicket

Jonny Bairstow was "proud" to be asked to move up England's Test batting order and remains confident he can cope with the demands of being the wicketkeeper at No. 5.

Bairstow's elevation is part of a broader restructuring of England's battling line-up as Ed Smith takes on the role of national selector. It was Smith who phoned and asked him about the shift following a winter campaign where Bairstow scored two of the four centuries England managed in seven Tests.

"I'm very proud to be asked to move up the order - it means the people in charge have got the belief in you to go out and deliver," Bairstow said. "They are asking a little extra, they are saying 'We want you to do this, we trust you, we believe in you' - and that's what you want within a team. You want the captain, coach and head selectors to back you."

Bairstow began last season at No. 5 but that lasted just two Tests against South Africa before he moved back down the order. During the Ashes he started at No. 7 (and was once, wastefully, as low as No. 8 due to a nightwatchman) before being elevated one spot, then ended the season back at seven where he scored a century in Christchurch.

Being so low runs the risk of him getting stranded with the lower order and Joe Root said the promotion for Bairstow was an attempt to get England's best batsmen into the top six. One counter argument made is that Australia rarely moved Adam Gilchrist from No. 7, from where he reimagined the role of a Test wicketkeeper-batsman, however he had a great batting line-up above him.

There remains a school of thought that England won't get the most out of Bairstow as a batsman while he has the gloves, but he is determined to make a success of the all-round position.

Rohit, Krunal blitz keeps Mumbai Indians alive

Mumbai Indians 176 for 4 (Suryakumar 57, Krunal 31*, Rohit 24*) beat Kings XI Punjab 174 for 6 (Gayle 50, Stoinis 29*, Bumrah 1-19) by six wickets

Mumbai Indians are on a cliff edge, but not yet weak enough to be pushed off just yet. Rohit Sharma and Krunal Pandya's unbeaten 56-run stand off 21 deliveries helped them chase down 175 with an over to spare, after Kings XI Punjab had the upper hand for the most part of the game.

Needing 50 off four overs, Ashwin threw the ball to Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who had picked up two wickets and caused Mumbai's batsmen much trouble. Rohit responded by hitting him for two sixes. The floodgates truly opened when Marcus Stoinis missed his lengths in the next over as Krunal got stuck in to take 20. This brought the target within touching distance, with four leg byes off a missed heave sealing Mumbai's third win in nine matches.

The Gayle-Rahul party continues

Mumbai had a plan for Chris Gayle: to hit hard lengths, target his rib cage, and not give him anything full or wide in his hitting arc. Gayle had scored one off eight balls as a result. His fluency was missing and KL Rahul, who began with a sparkling inside-out six over extra cover off Mitchell McClenaghan, was denied strike. But by hitting Hardik Pandya for three fours in the fourth over, Gayle caught up to get Kings XI going again. His hoist of McClenaghan for a 92-metre six that cleared the roofs at deep square-leg marked his arrival.

Kings XI had averaged 59 in the Powerplay coming into this game. They were slower today - 49 for 0 - but the openers eventually brought up their fifth fifty-plus partnership of the season. They were soon separated, though, when Rahul picked out JP Duminy at deep midwicket off Mayank Markande's half-tracker in the seventh over.

Yuvraj continues to struggle

Yuvraj's Smart Strike Rate of 40.32 was the poorest among 51 batsmen who have faced at least 50 balls this season. He started slowly again after being promoted to No. 3, making just five off his first nine balls. Yuvraj then smacked Krunal for six over deep midwicket, but that was the only highlight of another rusty effort as he was run out after a second mix-up with Karun Nair. Yuvraj's efforts: a run-a-ball 14, taking his season's tally to 34 in six innings. The move to drop Manoj Tiwary after just one game looking even more baffling.

Mumbai's poor finish

Jasprit Bumrah was superb in the Powerplay, and superb in the death; his figures of 4-0-19-1 were his best so far this season. But Mumbai still did not get the finish they wanted. After restricting Kings XI to 135 for 5, they conceded 39 off the last three overs. Two nights ago in Bengaluru, their final over, bowled by McClenaghan, went for 24. Here, Marcus Stoinis scored 21 off the last over, from Hardik. Stoinis finished with 29 off 15 and Kings XI had momentum, even though they may have been 20 runs short.

Kings XI use spin upfront

While Mumbai bowled only five overs of spin, Kings XI bowled those many in the first eight overs. R Ashwin, who kept Evin Lewis and Ishan Kishan quiet, bowled three. Then Mujeeb struck with his fourth delivery in the sixth over, when Lewis nicked a skidder to Rahul. Ashwin eventually bowled out by the 11th over, with Mumbai needing 99 off 54. Suryakumar Yadav scored a quick half-century even as a watchful Kishan, trying to overcome a slump of three ducks in five innings, played himself in. When it got to a point where they had to go, Suryakumar fell to an ugly hoick.

Rohit's batting position

Yuvraj batting at No. 3 and Axar Patel at No. 5 weren't the only surprises of the night. Mumbai played Hardik at No. 4 ahead of Rohit, who had smashed 118 off 43 against Sri Lanka in his previous T20I in Indore. On Friday, Rohit came in at No. 5 after Kishan fell, with Mumbai needing 75 off 42.

Hardik's 13-ball 23 ensured Mumbai kept up with the asking rate, but his dismissal brought Krunal to the crease. And then Kings XI lost their lengths. Stoinis, playing in place of Aaron Finch, bowled three slower length balls and a full toss to concede three fours and a six in the 17th over, as Krunal used the depth of the crease on a true surface and found the leg-side boundary. He finished on 31 off 12 balls, Rohit on 24 off 15, and Mumbai had six points, same as the three teams below them in the league.

Raine's late double tilts day to Leicestershire

Sussex 254 for 7 (Wright 88, Brown 64) v Leicestershire
Scorecard

Ben Raine took two wickets in two balls in the final session to wrest the initiative back for Leicestershire at the end of an absorbing first day of their Specsavers County Championship match against Sussex at the Fischer County Ground.

Raine produced fine seaming deliveries to bowl first Luke Wright, who had looked set for a century, and then Ollie Robinson after Sussex had recovered strongly from being 52 for 3 at lunch.

Pakistan seamer Muhammad Abbas, making his debut for the Foxes, bowled an outstanding opening spell, conceding just four runs from seven overs and taking one of the three wickets to fall during the opening session after Sussex skipper Ben Brown had won the toss and chosen to bat.

Openers Luke Wells and Phillip Salt received very few bad balls as they battled through the first hour. Wells faced 25 balls in scoring two runs, and had been hit on the shoulder by Abbas before he edged Raine to wicketkeeper Lewis Hill.

If that was a straightforward take for Hill, the catch he took to dismiss Salt off Abbas in the following over was anything but, a thick edge flying towards first slip, but the wicketkeeper took it beautifully two-handed to his right.

In the final over before lunch Harry Finch drove loosely at a Neil Dexter out-swinger, failed to keep the ball down, and saw Colin Ackermann take a smart catch at gully.

Wright and Stiaan Van Zyl dug in and began to prosper against a seam attack which, while accurate, was understandably less penetrative with the older ball on a pitch flattening under unbroken sunshine.

The batsmen had extended their partnership to 63 when Leicestershire captain Michael Carberry turned to spinner Callum Parkinson, and the left-armer was successful with just his second ball as Van Zyl's uncertain push resulted in an edge to Colin Ackermann at slip.

Wright reached his 50 off 92 balls, which included nine fours, shortly before tea, and he and Brown had brought up a century partnership before Abbas made the breakthrough with the new ball, having , on 64, caught at slip off an out-swinger.

Raine then struck twice to give Leicestershire a slight advantage to take into the second day.

Joe Clarke could be the new Joe Root

Joe Clarke could be the new Joe Root, according to Root's former batting mentor.

Kevin Sharp, for many years a player and coach at Yorkshire, worked with Root as a developing player. Now head coach of Worcestershire, Sharp believes 21-year-old Clarke shares many of the same attributes as the England captain and feels he would do well if picked for the Test team this summer.

"Yes, he could be the new Joe Root," Sharp told ESPNcricinfo. "He reminds me a lot of Joe Root's credentials.

"I met Joe Root as a 12-year-old and he had something special straight away. I knew that from day one. The way he went about his tasks, the way he talked about the game and the way he went about planning: he was always planning for the next level.

"Joe Clarke's the same. He's a fine young player. He wants to play all types of cricket for England. He's very self-driven.

"A few years ago I told Joe Root to look out for a guy called Joe Clarke. He said 'All right. OK then."

Clarke is clearly a huge fan of Root. During the days when the England and England Lions squads trained together in Australia during the Ashes tour, Clarke could be seen sitting in the closest net to Root as he batted and watching his every move intently. And, while Clarke did not score especially heavily on the Lions tour in the Caribbean, he redeemed himself with scores of 46, 71 and 112 in the North v South games. He had previously become the first teenage Lions player since Root.

With England struggling to find much consistency in their middle-order batting since Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen left the team, Clarke could even himself in the Test team within weeks. He is clearly highly thought of by the likes of Andy Flower and, if he starts the county season well, he will have given himself an excellent opportunity to push for a middle-order spot.

"It wouldn't surprise me if he was picked," Sharp said. "He would do well. He believes in himself, he's hungry and he concentrates well. It absolutely wouldn't be a problem if he got picked. He wouldn't let himself or anybody down."

Of more concern to Worcestershire could be the fact that Clarke is out of contract at the club at the end of the season. Counties can make 28-day approaches to players (that means they can notify the county of a player who is out of contract at the end of a season and inform them they wish to speak to that player in 28 days) from April 10 this year and Clarke is likely to have several big-budget suitors.

It may be relevant that he retains aspirations to keep wicket - a skill he feels could help him when it comes to England selection - and his ability to do so at New Road is blocked by the excellence of Ben Cox.

Zimbabwe Cricket sacks captain Cremer and all coaching staff

After giving them an ultimatum to step down by 3pm on Friday, Zimbabwe Cricket have sacked its entire coaching staff following an unsuccessful World Cup qualifier campaign. The captain Graeme Cremerwas another high-profile casualty with reports in the Zimbabwean press suggesting Brendan Taylor will take over leadership of the team.

In addition to the national coaching staff - head coach Heath Streak, batting coach Lance Klusener, bowling coach Douglas Hondo, fielding coach Walter Chawaguta, fitness coach Sean Bell and team analyst Stanley Chioza - all other coaching staff, including the Zimbabwe A coach Wayne James and Under-19 coach Stephen Mangongo have been booted out. Convener of selectors Tatenda Taibu has also stripped of his position.

In an email sent to Streak on Thursday evening, Zimbabwe Cricket MD Faisal Hasnain wrote: "Further to our discussions, please give your technical staff (and yourself included) until 3pm tomorrow to formally resign. After which time the technical team can consider themselves dismissed and relieved of their duties with immediate effect."

Streak and his staff refused to resign, on the principle that they did not consider their overall work a failure - Zimbabwe's ODI win-loss percentage under Streak was 37.5%, significantly more than the 22.6% Zimbabwe achieved between April 2014 and October 2016, when Streak took over - and decided to let the board make their decision.

Streak conveyed his disappointment in a brief conversation with ESPNcricinfo. "For everything I have given Zimbabwe Cricket, as a former player and a coach, to be given an email with no full explanation or even the courtesy of a hearing is something I didn't expect," Streak said. "I understand that every coach's tenure will come to an end, but we should at least have been given the chance to give our comments and ask some questions. I was looking to take the team to the World T20 in 2020."

Streak is the only one with alternative employment at the moment. He was appointed the Kolkata Knight Riders bowling coach for this year's edition of the IPL.

The mass purge is mostly a result of Zimbabwe missing out on the 2019 World Cup, after a three-run defeat to UAE in the final Super Six match, but will no doubt also be related to finances. Zimbabwe Cricket is muddling through another monetary crunch, only made worse by the fact that they will not be participating in the World Cup.

ZC staff, including the players who were attempting to qualify for the World Cup, were only paid 40% of their salaries in February. But with Streak and Klusener accepting 40% of theirs, the squad was eventually paid in full for their work during the month. No salaries will be paid in March, as ZC looks to make up the deficit in salaries to the rest of its staff.

'Boots up! Thank you!' - Pietersen calls time on playing career

Kevin Pietersen, one of the most brilliant and divisive cricketers of his generation, appears to have called time on his playing career with a four-word update to his 3.65 million Twitter followers.

Pietersen, who had declared in February that this season's Pakistan Super League would be his last tournament, tweeted "BOOTS UP! Thank you!" to his fans in the wake of what seems to have been his final appearance for Quetta Gladiators on Thursday night.

Pietersen's returns in the tournament were underwhelming as Quetta finished fourth in the table to earn themselves a play-off berth - he made 7 from six balls against Islamabad United in that final innings, and managed just one half-century in eight innings all told - albeit an explosive 52 from 34 balls against Karachi Kings.

But now, with the tournament shifting to Pakistan for two Eliminator matches in Lahore before the final in Karachi on March 25, Pietersen has joined his fellow England cricketers, Eoin Morgan, Alex Hales and Jason Roy, in opting out of travelling to the country for security reasons.

At the age of 37, Pietersen's enthusiasm for the hard graft of competitive cricket has been visibly waning in recent months. He warned that he was "nearly done and dusted" during his stint with Melbourne Stars during the Big Bash, and prior to his departure for the PSL, he posted an emotional farewell to his family on Instagram, adding that "this evening is the last one I'll ever have to do."

Pietersen added a further update on his Twitter feed on Saturday morning, which appeared to cement his decision. "Just been told that I scored 30000+ runs which included 152 fifty's & 68 hundreds in my professional career," he wrote. "Time to move on!"

Though he has shown glimpses of his enduring class in his recent engagements, it is plain that the passion has ebbed away from Pietersen's game - and flowed increasingly into his new love of rhino conservation, for which he is an increasingly committed spokesman. He is having a house built near Kruger national park in South Africa, and used two of his final appearances, for Surrey in last season's NatWest Blast and Melbourne Stars in the BBL, to promote the cause with fund-raising "Rhino Days".

Pietersen leaves the sport as England's second highest run-scorer across all forms of the game combined, including 8181 runs in 104 Tests between 2005 and 2013-14, until he was sacked in a dispute over team ethics in the wake of a disastrous 5-0 drubbing in that winter's Ashes.

The acrimony of Pietersen's split with England clouded the final years of his career - not least because the ECB's selectors have, arguably, never yet found an adequate replacement for him in their Test middle order.

But Pietersen's greatest hits will endure long after the bitterness of the latter years has faded. Foremost among the memories will be his unforgettable maiden Test hundred at The Oval in 2005, with which England secured the most absorbing Ashes contest of all time; his Man of the Tournament display in the Caribbean in 2010, when England won the World T20, their first and, to date, only ICC global trophy; and his central role in England's series wins in Australia in 2010-11 and India in 2012-13.

Michael Vaughan, Pietersen's captain during that 2005 Ashes, led the tributes on Twitter. "Well done @KP24 on an fantastic career," he wrote. "Not everyone's Cup of Tea but you will do for me ... Best Batsman I had the pleasure to play with ... 1st England batsman that put fear into the Aussies .. #WellDone"

Duminy, Samit propel Islamabad to the top

Islamabad United 182 for 5 (Duminy 73*, Asif Ali 45, Wahab 3-30) beat Peshawar Zalmi 156 for 9 (Wahab 33*, Asif 25, Samit 4-34, Gohar 3-25) by 26 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Islamabad United are beginning to get that 2016 feeling all over again.

After having made a shaky start to this year's campaign, they have been building momentum steadily. Friday's hapless opponents, Peshawar Zalmi, were crushed by 26 runs. It could well be the day when Islamabad's train became a juggernaut. With the game long gone, Wahab Riaz and Umaid Asif strung together a 55-run ninth-wicket stand to reduce the margin of defeat.

A splendid unbeaten 73 by JP Duminy laid the foundation for the hammering, with Asif Ali's blazing 45 at the end taking Islamabad to within one run of the tournament's highest score. Peshawar had, in truth, bowled poorly; no one except Wahab was able to hit either the yorker or bouncer lengths accurately enough, and the 81 runs Misbah-ul-Haq's men pillaged off the last 37 balls reflected that.

No Peshawar batsman was able to spearhead the innings. It was trial by spin here with eight of the nine wickets falling to spin. Samit Patel, the left-arm spinner, was stellar again. He enjoyed grip and turn off the surface to sort the top order out. But it is Zafar Gohar who could generate excitement in the Pakistan cricket circles. Playing in his first game, he exhibited splendid control and flighting the ball up to some of the most fearsome hitters in the game. He took three wickets to effectively end the contest.

Where the match was won

None of Peshawar's top eight managed to score more than 22. Compare that with Islamabad, where Duminy, carried his bat through and took the pressure off the other end. He was supported by cameos from Talat and Luke Ronchi, who scored 29 and 27 respectively. Those scores would've been the second-highest for Peshawar. Throw in the scorching 24-ball 45 from Asif at the end, and it's clear where they won.

The men that won it

Peshawar were 53 for 1 after seven overs. They'd set themselves up nicely, until Samit struck several crippling body blows. Kamran Akmal was trapped plumb in front, before Andre Fletcher and Dwayne Smith fell off successive deliveries to the Englishman to expose Peshawar's middle order sooner than they'd have hpped From there on, the asking rate inexorably went up, which meant they had to take more risks. That resulted in more wickets. Peshawar had been trapped in a vicious circle, and it was Patel who had run rings around them.

The magic delivery

Gohar bowled exceptionally well, and was rewarded for it with figures of 3 for 25. At one stage those figures had read 3 for 4. That included a dream ball to Darren Sammy off the second delivery he faced. Flighted nicely, it pitched just outside leg stump, and Sammy closed the face of the bat to flick it to the onside. However, upon bouncing, it gripped and turned so sharply Sammy's bat was barely in the same postcode. The ball went on to clip off stump.

Where they stand

Islamabd go top with 10 points, having one each of their past four games. Peshawar stay fifth, with three wins and four losses.