Former Park House student Toby Albert is quickly establishing himself as one of Hampshire’s top batsmen.
The 22-year-old grew up in Newbury, starting his career at local club East Woodhay, where he played until the age of fifteen.
Albert comes from a sporting family, with both mum and dad having represented Jamaica and Sweden as Olympic equestrians, but it didn’t take long for Toby to decide on cricket as his sport of choice.
“I played football and rugby in my early years at Park House”, he said.
“But from about fourteen, it was always cricket. I prioritised that.
“East Woodhay was the village club where I first started playing.”
Having shown promise, Albert quickly earned a spot in Berkshire’s youth sides, leading him to the famous Bunbury Cricket Festival, a showcase which has seen the likes of Vaughan, Flintoff, Root and Stokes pass through over the years.
It was from there that Toby made the jump to Hampshire’s academy.
“I started training with Hampshire when I was sixteen.
“I played a few development team games with them, then in 2019 I played a full season in the under-17s.
Albert also featured for Basingstoke and North Hants in this period, winning the Southern Premier League ‘Young Cricketer of the Year’ at the club.
“Dave Griffiths, who played for Hampshire, was the Director of Cricket there and had that link with the county, plus it was only half an hour from Newbury!”, he said.
It was at this time however, that Toby’s young career suffered its greatest setback, a brutal knee injury in October 2019 which saw him sidelined for seventeen months.
“I was playing for Hampshire under-17s, when I went to turn and my spikes got stuck in the ground.
“A partial dislocation of my knee and I tore off a ligament at the same time.
“I had to have that ligament reconstructed, they took one from my hamstrings, drilled through my kneecap and reconstructed my knee.
“The rehab was prolonged because of Covid. The physios and sports science team down at Hampshire… we had to stop seeing each other, so I stayed where I was.
“It was a long seventeen months of rehab and gym work, but touch wood it’s good now!”
Keen to make up for lost time, Toby’s career would quickly get back on track, making his First Team debut for Hampshire in 2021.
“It all happened very quickly!”, he reflects.
“I played a Vitality Blast group game against Somerset, when James Vince got called up to play for England
“I opened the batting with D’Arcy Short, but When Vince came back, I dropped out of the team.
“Then D’Arcy went back to Australia, so my second ever First Team game was the T20 Finals Day at Edgbaston, opening the batting!
“It was a case of ‘try and do what got you here’. I was very nervous!
Following this senior breakthrough, Albert went on to gain overseas experience as he honed his craft further.
“At the end of 2021, when I first signed as a professional, I went out to Dubai.
“I got picked up in the Abu Dhabi T10, so I played in that in the winter of 2021 for the Chennai Braves.
“Then in 2022-23, I went out to Perth, Australia to play for Joondalup.
“Premier grade cricket for a full season. I did five months out there which was great!
“It gets you out of the cold and into the sun. It was a great experience, everything I needed at the time.”
Albert returned to Australia for two months this winter, drawing attention with an unbeaten 170 including six sixes and 23 fours.
He describes his entertaining batting style as “a lot of switch hits and scoops. All the funky stuff!”
Last month saw another breakthrough as Toby made his first County Championship century for Hampshire, a classy 114 as part of a game winning partnership.
“How it worked out was funny”, he said.
“I hadn’t played a red ball game in the second team for weeks!
“Our opener Ali Orr had a back spasm.
“The coach came up to me and said ‘I think you’re going to open the batting tomorrow’.
“I had a good headspace going into it. It was a free hit for me, as no one expected me to do that well.
“The longer I spent out there, the easier it got!”
From here on out, having already overcome huge challenges and seized unexpected opportunities, Albert is keen to “just take it as it comes”.
“I’ve found myself in that red ball team now. If I can cement myself it would be great.
“In T20 I’ve started decently with a couple of good scores too.
“You never know, I’ll see where it takes me!”
