The Cricket Foundation, in partnership with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is to offer eight Chance to Shine coaching contracts to members of the England Women’s Cricket team.

The Cricket Foundation contracts offer the players 25 hours coaching a week and last for eight months of the year and the players will deliver coaching sessions within Chance to shine schools, assist in developing girls’ sections at clubs and support local competition structures.

The coaching contracts will aim to both support the players financially as well as providing them with enough time to train and concentrate on their playing career.

It is hoped that the scheme will raise the profile of both the players and the sport.

The players chosen for the scheme include captain Charlotte Edwards, Rosalie Birch, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Danielle Hazell, Katherine Brunt, Nicky Shaw, Jenny Gunn and Lydia Greenway

Chance to shine is The Cricket Foundation’s 10-year campaign to regenerate competitive cricket in a third of state schools in England and Wales. In 2007, it introduced 99,119 children to the sport in 1,276 schools; of whom 43 per cent were girls, nine per cent were from ethnic minorities and one per cent had disabilities.