English bowler maybe embraces early contest (4)
I believe the answer is:
heat
'early contest' is the definition.
(as in the heats in a competition)
'english bowler maybe embraces' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'bowler maybe' becomes 'hat' (bowler is a type of hat).
'embraces' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'e' placed within 'hat' is 'HEAT'.
(Other definitions for heat that I've seen before include "Raise temperature" , "High temperature" , "Warmth - passion" , "Preliminary race to qualify finalists" , "early round" .)