Birmingham Phoenix posted a video on Instagram showing Pakistan spinner Usman Tariq bowling in the nets, with a caption poking fun at a running internet trend, “IG IS COOL BECAUSE WE CAN POST A VIDEO OF TRAINING AND SOME DUDE NAMED ERLING WILL COMMENT ‘NICE’.”
The joke references Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, who has turned his habit of dropping “nice” under random training clips into one of the biggest trends on Instagram recently. Creators across sports keep baiting him with videos hoping to get a reply, and Haaland keeps the trend alive by responding to a steady stream of clips.
Birmingham Phoenix then followed up in the comments themselves, tagging another name into the mix: “maybe Maybe someone named @judebellingham too 🫢”
Bellingham responded in kind, commenting simply: “nice.”
The reply made sense given his ties to the club. Birmingham Phoenix announced Bellingham as a minority shareholder last month, giving him a 1.2 percent stake in the franchise.
Warwickshire County Cricket Club and Knighthead Capital Management run the club, holding 50.4 percent and 48.4 percent respectively, after buying into the 2025 sale of all eight Hundred franchises.
Birmingham Phoenix signed Usman Tariq, the bowler in the video, for £140,000 at this year’s auction, making him the first Pakistani player the sale brought in. He also plays for Warwickshire in the Vitality Blast and has taken 18 wickets in nine T20Is for Pakistan at an economy of 6.66.
He bowls a mixture of offbreaks, googlies and flicked legbreaks, releasing the ball after a distinctive pause that has become his trademark.
