Toby Lambert who plays cricket for Nottinghamshire Cricket Club to once again tour South Africa after coming back from Bunbury festival
A promising cricketer is again travelling to South Africa for a pre-season tour with Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club.
Fifteen-year-old wicket keeper and batsman Toby Lambert, who was on the tour last year, will be returning to play cricket and explore the country on his days off.
Toby, who will turn 16 while in the country plays for the under-18 side at Notts.
"I am looking forward to returning to South Africa for my second time," said Toby.
"It will be a good experience in South Africa training and playing a few games.
"I am also looking forward to seeing a bit more of the place in my free time."
Toby said that he found the heat to be challenging when he was there the same time last year.
"You tend to sweat a lot over there," he said.
"There is also the challenge of the quality of players that you face over in South Africa.
"Here in England the academies go to 18 years of age. The academies in South Africa go to about 26 or 27 years of age.
"There are a lot of players from there who come over here to play second team cricket at county level so it is a good standard.
"The players over there are very experienced.
"There are also a lot of English cricketers over there playing 100 ball and T20 as well," said Toby's father, Gary who played under-19s cricket at Nottinghamshire.
Toby is hoping to have another good tour after performing well in South Africa last year.
"Last time we went we did well as a team," said Toby.
"There were things to improve on for me personally but I think I kept pretty well.
"My goal is to play cricket professionally."
Toby's father Gary added that Toby is on track to fulfill his goal of becoming a professional cricketer.
"Toby is at a good stage of development at the moment," said Gary Lambert.
"He played last year at four years below his age group, that shows where he is at and what others think of his ability.
"For him to be playing under-18 cricket at his age is exceptional.
"It is entirely up to Toby what he wants to achieve.
"He is surrounded by good people and he has an idea of what they want.
"If Toby wants it badly enough, it will happen.
"You have to want it and you have to have a bit of luck along the way as well.
"His aspiration this summer is to play some second-team cricket for Notts.
"The 100 and 50 over cricket will be played in the summer so there are a lot of matches being played and that will open up opportunities for Toby.
"If Toby gets playing in the second team he will be classed as a professional cricketer.
"He previously played for them against a touring team from India and while he did not keep or bat, he did field.
"He was in the middle order for the batting but Notts managed to chase down the run total before he got a chance to bat."
It will be a challenging year for Toby as he sits his GCSEs and looks forward to a big year in cricket.
"It is important to have an academic background," said Gary.
"He has to get the balance right between his school and cricket.
"School finishes in June and he will be available to play second team cricket if the opportunity presents itself."
"It is not easy, but it is manageable at the moment," said Toby.
"I also have been given a gym programme that I have been working on to get stronger for cricket.
"I am focusing on cricket while keeping my education at a high level."
Toby added that as he progresses further along the pathway, the more professional the programme is on becomes.
"We have a sports psycologist, I have been sent a gym programme from our strength and conditioning coach," said Toby.
“I love sport and I find it very interesting.
"That is what a lot of people don't see outside of selection and the opportunity to play," added Gary.
"He is doing ten hours of cricket a week on top of his school work.
"You have to put the work in to be able to perform well.
"He works very hard."
Toby again played in the Bunbury Festival last year which showcases the top under-15 cricketers in the country.
"It is a good level of cricket and Toby really excelled at that level."