Emma Lamb awarded England rookie contract

Lamb, who has featured in the Women's Cricket Super League as part of Lancashire Thunder, has played 30 matches across four seasons for the club. The allrounder scored 329 runs and took 21 wickets for Thunder along the way.

"I don’t think you can underestimate how difficult it can be to balance university studies with training. It’s quite hard to focus on just the cricket," she told the Professional Cricketers' Association's (PCA) in-house magazine, Beyond the Boundary. "After completing my Sports and Exercise Science degree at Edge Hill University, I’ve earned my contract so now my main focus where it wasn’t before."

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Lamb has been a member of the England Academy right since her teenage days. She recently also attended the PCA's 2020 rookie camp in February alongside Kirstie Gordon. She has also been picked by Manchester Originals for The Hundred competition.

While the rookie contracts are not enough for players to survive on them alone, they do provide enough support to individuals to allow them to continue in the system.