• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Rcbs Lauren Bell Included As Ecb Unveils Eng Womens Central Contracts For 202526

RCB's Lauren Bell included as ECB unveils ENG Women’s Central Contracts for 2025/26

Kaushik Kashyap

Lauren Bell. [Source - @hantscricket/x.com]Lauren Bell. [Source - @hantscricket/x.com]

England’s preparations for the upcoming 2025-26 season moved a step forward as the England Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed 17 full Central Contracts and four Skills Contracts for the upcoming cycle. With a home T20 World Cup on the horizon in 2026, the selections reflect both long-term trust and the squad’s strong performances in recent months.

Strengthening the core with fresh one-year deals

The ECB has shown trust to the entire core group, offering 10 new one-year deals while seven players move into the second year of their existing deals. The management believes this old and new additions have shown consistent growth and performance, particularly during a packed calendar where many stepped up in pressure situations.

Lauren Bell, the new Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) recruit in WPL auction and Nat Sciver-Brunt, the marquee Mumbai Indians player, have been amongst the players central to England’s limited-overs rise, continues to be in the existing two-year deals.

Type of Contract
Players
Existing ContractsLauren Bell, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight, Charlie Dean, Amy Jones, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, and Sophie Ecclestone
New one-year ContractsTammy Beaumont, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Sophia Dunkley, Lauren Filer, Mahika Gaur, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Freya Kemp, and Linsey Smith.
New Skills Contracts
Em Arlott, Emma Lamb, Ryana Macdonald-Gay, and Issy Wong.

England's new emerging match-winner in white-ball cricket, Linsey Smith, has been given full central contract for the very first time which reflects England’s recognition of her rising influence. 

Meanwhile, Em Arlott and Emma Lamb earn their first Skills Contracts after making meaningful contributions across formats. The board views these new deals as both reward and investment, which will help emerging players be confident and do well in the upcoming global events at home. 

Although England’s speedster Kate Cross missed out this cycle, the ECB claimed that domestic brilliance remains the pathway to get back to the national side, keeping the door open for proven performers.

Overall, England’s leadership is very much aware of what success on home soil could mean as they have also tasted the remarkable World Cup victory at home last decade. Recent global examples, including India’s transformational World Cup triumph at home, highlights the potential impact of a victorious campaign behind your own backyard.