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New professional players inducted ahead of domestic season.
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The PCA welcomed the newest male and female professional players to Rookie Camp 2026 for a day of education, insight and connection at Edgbaston.
Building on the success of the last year’s recording-breaking event, Rookie Camp once again brought players together from across the country to prepare them for the realities of life as a professional cricketer on and off the pitch.
Since its inception in 2011, Rookie Camp has focussed on education, ensuring that players are informed, supported and empowered for life as a player and beyond.
The attendees comprised of a host of the England U19 Men’s squad who recently reached the World Cup final in Zimbabwe, including Ralphie Albert (Surrey), Will Bennison (Yorkshire), Ben Dawkins (Kent), Caleb Falconer (Middlesex), Alex French (Surrey) and Joe Moores (Lancashire).
Of the female attendees three have represented their country with Darcey Carter (Lancashire), Priyanaz Chatterji (Surrey) and Katherine Fraser (Durham) all having played for Scotland.
The day began with the Rookies meeting and getting to know each other before an engaging Q&A session featuring former Worcestershire all-rounder Joe Leach and former Warwickshire and Durham seamer Chris Rushworth who shared their reflections on resilience, setbacks and the importance of building strong support networks whilst inspiring the next generation of cricketers.
The players then learnt how each department at their players’ union can support them from Member Services and the Cricket Department to Education Funding and the Cricketers’ Trust.
An interactive session from Alex Mills of Sporting Chance tackled the subject of substance use providing an open and safe space to explore how substances connect to performance, culture, wellbeing and how they can impact lives and careers.
The PCA’s Cricket Department then held a roleplay session on contract negotiation and the benefits of agents at different stages of their careers.
The afternoon shifted towards personal development and wellbeing, starting with a social media masterclass by Matt Himswroth of B5 Consultancy which encouraged players to take ownership of their digital presence whilst exploring the risks and benefits of different platforms and how to stay safe online.
B5 Consultancy continued with a session on healthy relationships facilitated by former footballer Fraser Franks and England Rugby sevens player Celiah Quansah that enabled players to understand respect, responsibility and boundaries.
2025 Rookie Camp attendee, England Under 19 player and Derbyshire bowler Harry Moore was joined by 2024 Rookie Camp attendee and Warwickshire all-rounder Mary Taylor to help the players make the most of opportunities available to them at the start of their careers.
The 16th PCA Rookie Camp forms part of the PCA’s Personal Development and Welfare Programme (PDWP), a personalised support service which aims to enable individuals to develop sustainable performance both within and outside of cricket.
Head of the PCA Personal Development and Welfare Programme, Lynsey Williams, said: “Rookie Camp is about giving players the strongest possible foundation at the very start of their careers. Stepping into the professional game is exciting but it also brings pressure, scrutiny and important decisions on and off the pitch. Through the Personal Development and Welfare Programme, we want every player to feel supported and well informed so that they can navigate their careers with confidence.
“Bringing together the young men’s and women’s players provides a brilliant educational opportunity as we reinforce key messages around managing transition, professional behaviours, social media, healthy relationships and more.”
England Under 19 and Middlesex all-rounder, Caleb Falconer, said: “Rookie Camp has been very insightful, we received some useful advice about agents and then with decision making we had a good session on substance use.
“Learning about all the support that we have access to through the funds we can receive and the phone calls we can make for mental health support and being a member for life is great to know. It’s important we receive this education because I learnt a lot of new things with my peers and talked to them about what we’ve learnt.”
Sussex all-rounder, Troy Henry, said: “Being new to the game, today has been very informative, it was good to get a good introduction in to the different ways the PCA can help us. They support us through the cricket side of things with contracts but also as people, if we need any help with our mental health they are always there for us. If it’s within the game or outside the game, I now know that I can go to the PCA for any type of support.
“It was great to hear from Harry who was only here as an attendee last year, it makes us think that we can reach for the stars and be where they are in their career, it was nice having him here as a role model.”
Hampshire all-rounder, Francesca Sweet, said: “It was great to hear from Chris (Rushworth) and Joe (Leach) about longevity in the game and learning from some of their experiences and dealing with the highs and the lows of cricket.
“Everyone has been so welcoming, I’ve learnt a lot today about many different PCA elements. Learning how much the PCA can help has been really comforting, especially knowing that we are members for life.”
Full list of players in attendance:
Amrit Basra, Joe Hawkins, Rory Haydon (Derbyshire); Katherine Fraser, Harriet Robson (Durham); Charlie Bennett, Mackenzie Jones (Essex); Romano Franco, Callum Nicholls, Tom Norton (Glamorgan); Daaryoush Ahmed, Kamran Dhariwal, Aman Rao, (Gloucestershire); Francesca Sweet (Hampshire); Olly Curtis, Ben Dawkins, Corey Flintoff (Kent); Darcey Carter, Alice Clarke, Grace Johnson, Tillie Kesteven, Joe Moores, Arav Shetty (Lancashire); Caleb Falconer, Jamie Feldman (Middlesex); Stuart van der Merwe (Northamptonshire); Tom Giles, Byron Hatton-Lowe, Travis Holland, Francis Moore, Joe Pocklington, Sam Seecharan (Nottinghamshire); Ruby Davis, Fin Hill, Kian Roberts, James Theedom, Bea Willis (Somerset); Ralphie Albert, Emily Burke, Priyanaz Chatterji, Alex French, Nikhil Gorantla, Rachel King, Adam Thomas (Surrey); Troy Henry, Nantes Oosthuizen (Sussex); Olivia Baker (The Blaze), Isaac Mohammed (Worcestershire); Will Bennison, Matthew Firbank, Noah Kelly, Jay Singh, Owen Smith, Charlie Taylor, Alex Wade (Yorkshire).
Find out more about the PCA’s Personal Development and Welfare Programme.
