Rosalie Birch believes women's cricket is moving into a more professional era after becoming one of the first players to be awarded a groundbreaking contract by the ECB.

Birch is part of a group of eight England players to be given full-time coaching contracts in a bid to take the women's game in this country to a new level.

The Chance to Shine contracts -thought to be worth around £40,000 on a pro rata basis -are designed to give Birch and her colleagues more flexibility to concentrate on improving their games and allow them time off to go on tour.

The 24-year-old Sussex all-rounder will spend 15 hours a week coaching youngsters and trying to encourage more girls to take up the sport and another ten promoting the women's game in a PR role.

Birch and the other seven contracted players - Charlotte Edwards, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Katherine Brunt and Danielle Hazell - also gets four months off during the year to allow them to play games all over the world.

The scheme is the brainchild of former Sussex and England captain Clare Connor in her role of head of women's cricket at the ECB and comes at the start of a vital 15 months for the national team.

England take on South Africa and India this summer before going to Australia in March for the World Cup and then coming home to compete in the World Twenty20 alongside the men for the first time in June.

Birch said: "It's a great opportunity as it gives us the chance to be semi-professional. It's not officially professional cricket but it definitely means the England team can be a more professional outfit.

"It is a massive step forward because previously it was hard trying to combine having a career and playing for England. Now we can represent our country and not worry about whether we are going to lose our jobs.

"I've been pretty lucky to have had very understanding employers but I know people who have had to pull out of tours in the past because they cannot get the time off work.

"Being an international cricketer takes a lot of commitment. I play every weekend, all over the country and then there are various different training sessions during the week. If I'm not training or playing then I'll be in the gym so it is pretty full on.

"These contracts will help revolutionise the women's game. Whether we become professional in the future is going to be based on media interest but this is definitely a step in the right direction.

"It's also a great opportunity to be able to put something back into the game and try to encourage more girls to get involved in cricket."

The ECB are the first national governing body to offer contracts to women and Connor believes it will help the England team become the best in the world.

Birch was part of the side which retained the Ashes in Australia in the winter together with Sussex colleagues Holly Colvin, Caroline Atkins, Laura Marsh and Sarah Taylor.

Connor was keen to build on that success and came up with the idea to offer coaching contracts during a chat with former England captain Mike Gatting, who was appointed as the ECB's managing director of cricket partnerships last year.

Connor said: "We identified there were two needs. How to support the England girls and how to cater for the explosion of interest in the game. Mike has been a really big supporter of it, he talks about it wherever he goes.

"It's a considerable investment on the ECB's part. I'm proud that the ECB is pioneering something like this for women's teams sports which don't necessarily get injections of cash."