The Hundred 2024 – Ellyse Perry to captain Birmingham Phoenix in the Women’s Hundred

Ellyse Perry will captain the Birmingham Phoenix in the Women’s Hundred this season, taking over the role she was due to fill last summer before she was ruled out through injury.

The all-rounder played just one season of the Hundred in 2022, scoring 134 runs in six matches. Phoenix’s plans to build a team around her in 2023 were scuppered when Cricket Australia ruled Perry out after she injured her left knee in an earlier ODI series against Ireland.

Eve Jones was replaced as captain but the Phoenix failed to win a game, losing seven of eight to finish bottom of the table. Perry and fellow overseas star Sophie Devine were among seven players retained by Phoenix in March’s draft.

Perry’s return to Edgbaston is as much a boost for Hundred as it is for her team. The 33-year-old is one of the sport’s best-known players, with 314 caps for her country in an international career now in its 18th year.

She was the top run-scorer in the WPL this season, scoring 347 runs at 69.40 while also taking seven wickets for eventual winners Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Perry also has extensive management experience with the Sydney Sixers in the Women’s Big Bash League, where she became the first player to manage 100 WBBL matches.

“I am incredibly honored to be named captain of the Birmingham Phoenix,” said Perry. “It’s a great club that means a lot to me. It was really disappointing not to join the group last season, so I’m really excited to be back this year.

“I look forward to joining the entire team, both our existing and new players, to work towards a truly successful season for Phoenix.”

Elsewhere, defending champions Southern Brave announced Georgia Adams as their new captain following the retirement of Anya Shrubsole. Shrubsole signed off helping the Braves break their duck as losing runners-up in the first two editions, thanks in part to Adams, who led the competition with 16 wickets.

Adams is the captain of the Southern Vipers, the domestic women’s team that is also in the Utilita Bowl. Last year she achieved the double of winning the 50-over Rachel Heyhoe Flint Trophy and the Charlotte Edwards Twenty20 Cup.

“It’s a privilege to take over for Anya, who has been an amazing captain and someone the whole team has looked up to,” Adams said. “I’m really excited to get going and look forward to leading a fantastic group of players and trying to defend the trophy.”

The Brave also confirmed that James Vince will continue to lead his team in the Men’s Hundred after leading the team to success in the inaugural 2021 season.