MAIA BOUCHIER and Danielle Gibson have been handed their first central contracts by the England and Wales Cricket Board, it was announced today.

England Women have once again issued 18 full-time deals, with the retired Katherine Sciver-Brunt and the dropped Freya Davies the only omissions from last year’s list.

Bouchier is rewarded following a season that ended with her cracking a career-best 95 against Sri Lanka in the final ODI of the campaign, while Gibson made her debut in the T20 leg of this summer’s Ashes contest.