Lamb, Frankish and Prior lead at              English women's championship There’s a three-way tie at the top at the halfway stage of the English women’s amateur championship at West Lancashire Golf Club. Lancashire’s Sophie Lamb (Image © Leaderboard Photography), Kent’s Cloe Frankish and Surrey’s Lizzie Prior are all three-under par with two rounds to play.  Frankish, who was runner-up in the recent English women’s open match play championship, made the biggest move, scoring three-under 71. Lamb and Prior – both internationals - were both two-under in the second round. They’re three shots ahead of the host club’s Hollie Muse, with a group of three players a shot further back on one over: Amelia Williamson (Royal Cromer), Sammie Giles (St Mellion) and Lianna Bailey (Kirby Muxloe). Lamb, from Clitheroe, was first to post her score, having raced off today with five birdies in the first eight holes. She set up three of them by hitting the par fives in two and played precision shots into the par four fourth and the short sixth, finishing within 3ft on both holes. “I kept hitting it close and rolling the putts in,” said Lamb. She dropped shots on only two holes, with a bogey on nine and a double on the 16th, where the wind got behind her approach putt. “Apart from that it was pretty steady,” added Lamb, who had her boyfriend, fellow international Marco Penge, on the bag. Frankish, from Chart Hills in Kent, missed the practice round for the championship after playing in pre-qualifying for the Ricoh Women’s British Open on Monday and successfully making her way through to the final stage.  Despite the lack of practice she played the first round in level par and today added three-under 71 in a stiff breeze. She played the front nine flawlessly with four birdies and five pars, then dropped a couple on the back nine before holing a 20-footer for an 18th hole birdie. “I’m happy with how I played today because it’s really windy,” she said.  Her determination to succeed this week has been strengthened by her disappointment in losing the match play championship final. “Coming second has made me want to win this even more,” she said. Prior, from Burhill in Surrey, is just back from Iceland where she helped England to win the European women’s team championship. “It’s been a good run!” she said. She joined the lead late in the day, after battling the strengthening winds and signing off with a birdie on the last. “It was so windy and really tough later in the round as it picked up,” she said. But the 18-year-old drove the ball well and, when she needed to, made some ‘outrageously good’ pars with some unlikely up-and-downs. Last year, Prior was joint runner-up in this championship and she remarked: “It would be nice to go one better!” After today’s second round the field was cut to the leading 40 players and ties who play the final 36 holes tomorrow. A total of 41 players made the cut which fell on 12-over par. Click here for full scores and tomorrow's draw For more information contact: Lyndsey Hewison Press Officer England Golf