The England and Wales Cricket Board and all eight Hundred franchises said on Tuesday that players must not be excluded based on nationality, after reports that Indian-owned teams may avoid signing Pakistan cricketers.

The BBC reported last week that Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave and Sunrisers Leeds would not consider signing Pakistan players for the competition amid ongoing tensions between Pakistan and India.

“The Hundred was established to reach new audiences, grow the game of cricket and ensure that everyone — regardless of their ethnicity, gender, faith, nationality or other — can feel they belong in our sport,” they said in a statement.

“Players must not be excluded on the grounds of their nationality. All eight teams commit to selection being based solely on cricketing performance, availability, and the needs of each team.”

The player auction is scheduled for March 11-12 in London, with 67 Pakistan players having registered, including fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah, according to the BBC.

Pakistan players have been effectively barred from the Indian Premier League (IPL) since 2009.

The Hundred, the only cricket league in the world that uses the 100-ball format, will be held from July 21 to August 16 and was opened to private investment this year, with four franchises acquired by IPL owners.

The Cleveland Browns entered last season with one of the NFL’s more crowded quarterback rooms. 

Sheduer Sanders took over the starting quarterback duties in Week 12 last season, and after two more starts, he was named the starter for the remainder of the season. Dillon Gabriel moved to a backup role as Deshaun Watson stayed on the physically unable to perform list, even after the team opened his 21-day practice window in December. Watson is still recovering from his latest Achilles injury.

Speaking at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis Tuesday, Brown general manager Andrew Berry left the door open for Watson to compete with Sanders for the starting job next season.

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Berry cautioned that there’s no rush to decide on who will QB1 when next season kicks off. 

“We don’t have to make that decision anytime soon,” he said. “I think any player that we have in that room we would expect to compete to earn a role. Those two would be no different.”

While Gabriel could be among the group competing for the starting spot, Berry has previously indicated that the team could look to add an experienced quarterback to the roster at some point this offseason.

Sanders took snaps with the designated second-team for the majority of the Browns’ minicamp and training camp last year. He went 3-4 as a starter in 2025. Berry is optimistic Sanders can continue to improve.

“I think the biggest thing that we want to see from Shedeur is just continued growth,” Berry said. “I think he grew a lot from Start 1 to Start 7. I think certainly playing more efficiently, not putting the ball in harm’s way as much would be important while maintaining the ability to produce out of structure and generate explosive plays.”

Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center on Feb. 24, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

The Browns dismissed Kevin Stefanski in January and brought in Todd Monken, and Berry said he wants Sanders to acclimate to the new system.

“You’re not going to see all of that in the upcoming months because we’re not on the field. So the biggest thing that he can do is learn the new offense, get in with the coaching staff once our offseason program starts, continue to work on his body physically and then make strides when we actually get on the grass.”

Watson has appeared in just 19 games in the three years since he inked an unprecedented fully guaranteed $230 million contract with the Browns. Watson is reportedly owed $46 million next season and carries the largest salary cap hit in the league in 2026.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson in action during the NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. 13, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.   (AP Photo/Chris Szagola, File)

Berry confirmed Watson continues to work through the rehab process. “Deshaun’s been working really hard, he’s been working his tail off,” he said. “And like I said, we’re excited to go in mid-April with all of our players across the roster.”

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The Browns went 5-12 last season.

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Duke’s win against Michigan has propelled the Blue Devils to a familiar perch: No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.

The Blue Devils climbed two spots to top Monday’s poll, marking the 148th appearance at No. 1 to add to what was already the record for any program.

Duke (25-2) claimed 56 of 61 first-place votes to supplant Michigan (25-2) after Saturday’s 68-63 win against the Wolverines in Washington.

That win came in a matchup of the top two teams in the NCAA men’s selection committee’s preliminary top 16 seeds for March Madness, released hours before the game.

The Blue Devils enter this week with a national-best 12 Quadrant 1 wins, along with nine wins against AP Top 25 teams.

And now the latest such win has pushed the Blue Devils back to a No. 1 ranking for the second straight season under fourth-year coach Jon Scheyer. Last year’s Final Four team sat atop the last two polls entering the NCAA tournament, the first time Duke had reached No. 1 since Scheyer took over for retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski in 2022.

Arizona rose two spots to No. 2 after beating BYU and winning at Houston and secured the other five first-place votes. Michigan fell to No. 3 as its first appearance at No. 1 since January 2013 turned into a one-week stay, followed by a pair of Big 12 teams in Iowa State and Houston.

The top tier

UConn fell one spot to No. 6 after a week that included a home loss to Creighton, while reigning national champion Florida leaped five spots to No. 7 to return to the top 10 for the first time since late November. The Gators were ranked No. 3 in the preseason and spent a week among the unranked in early January. They have won seven straight and 12 of 13.

Purdue, Gonzaga and Illinois rounded out the top 10.

NCAA selection committee vs. AP Top 25

The selection committee had Michigan, Duke, Arizona and Iowa State as the No. 1 seeds in Saturday’s reveal of the preliminary top 16 seeds. The Cyclones edged UConn and Houston for the fourth 1-seed, with the Huskies’ loss to Creighton and then Iowa State’s head-to-head win against Houston to start last week swinging the vote to T.J. Otzelberger’s squad.

Monday’s poll largely aligns with the committee’s reveal, starting with the same four teams at the top in a shuffled order — with Iowa State moving up two spots even after Saturday’s loss at now-No. 19 BYU.

In addition, the AP Top 25 and committee align on 15 teams being ranked among those top 16 seeds. The outlier is St. John’s at No. 15 in the AP poll, taking a slot that went to Vanderbilt — with the Commodores seeded 15th overall by the committee Saturday but sliding to No. 25 in Monday’s poll.

Rising

Alabama had the week’s biggest jump, rising eight spots to No. 17 after a thrilling double-overtime home win against Arkansas and a victory at LSU pushed the Crimson Tide’s win streak to six games.

Florida had the week’s second-biggest gain, while BYU rose four spots after the Arizona loss and Iowa State win.

In all, 11 teams moved up from last week’s ranking.

Sliding

No. 14 Kansas joined Vanderbilt with the week’s biggest slide of six spots. The Jayhawks are coming off a 16-point home loss to a Cincinnati team that was reeling in early February but has won four straight.

The Commodores lost at Missouri and at home to Tennessee last week, falling to 5-6 since a 16-0 start that carried them to a No. 10 ranking as of mid-January.

Saint Louis tumbled five spots to No. 23 after last week’s loss at Rhode Island ended an 18-game winning streak, while 11 teams fell from last week but remained in the poll.

Status quo

Illinois and No. 20 Arkansas were the only two teams to hold their position from last week.

Coming and going

Tennessee was the lone new addition, at No. 22, with the Volunteers beating Oklahoma and Vanderbilt last week to push their winning streak to four games. This starts a third stint in the poll for Rick Barnes’ Volunteers, who fell out for two weeks in mid-January, returned for a week at No. 25 to start February, then were unranked again for the past two weeks.

The Vols replaced Wisconsin, which fell out from No. 24 after last week’s loss at Ohio State.

Conference watch

The Big 12 led all conferences with six ranked teams, while the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference each had five. The Atlantic Coast Conference was next with four, followed by the Big East with two.

The West Coast Conference, Mid-American Conference and Atlantic 10 each had one ranked team.