Ellyse Perry's Reason for Missing Jude Bellingham's Appearance
Jude Bellingham’s appearance at Edgbaston this summer felt like a crossover event. One of world football’s brightest stars, freshly minted as a Real Madrid midfielder and hometown hero, strolling into The Hundred as a part-owner of Birmingham Phoenix. Cameras followed, social feeds lit up, and the franchise basked in the reflected glare of global stardom.
But the captain of his own women’s side? She was nowhere to be seen.
Ellyse Perry, one of the defining cricketers of her generation and the on-field face of the Phoenix, has now revealed why she missed the chance to meet the club’s new investor. And the reason could not have been more ordinary.
“I didn’t,” she said bluntly when asked on No Balls: The Cricket Podcast by Alexandra Hartley whether she had met the England international. Hartley and co-host Kate Cross pushed for the story. The answer came with a wince and a laugh.
“I have a feeling; I came off the field, and I was absolutely busting to go to the toilet.”
No scheduling clash. No media commitments. Just biology cutting across a carefully stage-managed moment.
Perry then highlighted the irony in the way these things normally work. Player appearances with sponsors or investors often need coaxing. This one, she joked, would have been different.
“Normally you know it's sort of like you need a few volunteers to go and do something particular, and sometimes that can be like pulling teeth, but does anyone fancy Jude?” she said.
Cross didn’t miss the chance to underline the scale of the near-miss. “I think she disappointed most girls that day,” the England seamer quipped, summing up the reaction of teammates and fans who would happily have swapped a net session for a quick hello with Bellingham.
Behind the light-hearted story sits a serious move for the Phoenix.
Bellingham, who grew up in Stourbridge and rose through Birmingham City’s academy before his rapid ascent in European football, bought a 1.2 per cent equity stake in the franchise in January. The holding, split evenly between Warwickshire County Cricket Club and Knighthead Capital Management, was valued by Warwickshire at around one million pounds.
The deal went through with ECB approval despite a five-year lock-in period for new investors in The Hundred franchises. Phoenix chief executive Stuart Cain has made it clear this wasn’t a vanity tie-up. Bellingham, he said, loved cricket as a youngster and had wanted a piece of the competition from the moment teams went to market.
His arrival subtly reshaped the franchise’s ownership landscape. Warwickshire retained 50.4 per cent control, Knighthead held 48.4 per cent, and the county’s majority stake was valued at 48 million pounds. For a team still searching for its first Hundred title, the numbers underline how serious the business has become.
What Bellingham unquestionably brought was profile. Few cricket franchises can call on a Real Madrid star and England international as a co-owner. Phoenix content suddenly had a built-in global audience. A short clip from Edgbaston could travel far beyond the usual cricket circles.
On the field, though, the association has yet to turn into silverware. Birmingham Phoenix remain one of the sides still waiting to lift a men’s or women’s Hundred trophy. Perry leads the women, Jacob Bethell captains the men in 2026, and both teams continue to chase that first breakthrough campaign.
Whether Perry finally gets her photo with the owner may come down to something more familiar to her than a mad dash to the dressing-room toilets: how long Phoenix stay alive in the business end of next season.
