Flintoff fever grows with Rocky robbing his famous father of records

The Guardian

29-01-2025

The clip is only 34 seconds long and its production values are low; an iPhone in portrait mode on the boundary edge of a sun soaked cricket pitch. Follow the clues: an unused floodlight looms over proceedings like a giant steel dandelion, we're not at some tin pot ground here. What's that song blaring out? No need to reach for Shazam, you know it – Freddie Mercury giving it both lungs as Under Pressure reaches a crescendo. The sound is tinny, like someone's put their phone into an empty bowl. Sure, they'll pay for their last-minute scrabble for ad-hoc amplification with Dorito dust in their speaker duct but all that's for later. Right now, there's a moment happening.
A lissom-limbed bowler hurtles in. The music fades out. Bowie doesn't get a sniff. The young batter comes forward to a length ball and plays a deft glide through point. There's a gruff roar and hormonal cry of 'Come on!' from the boundary as the young lad sprints down to the non-strikers end, removing his helmet in the process. He charges back for two, the camera's zoom judders in on him as he leaps in the air a la David Warner. He then blows a kiss down his blade a la Virat Kohli. Everything else in his mannerisms gives the game away though – this is a Flintoff.
English cricket's heart collectively fluttered last week as the news, and ramshackle video clip, filtered through with Rocky Flintoff's latest exploits. At 16 years and 291 days old, Flintoff Jr became the youngest player to score a hundred for England Lions with a dashing display from the lower order against a Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane.
Rocky's knock not only whisked the record out of his own father's dinner plate hands – Flintoff Sr was 20 years and 28 days old when he struck a ton for England A against Kenya at Nairobi 1998 – but was also eerily, excitingly reminiscent of one that his dad might've played in his swashbuckling pomp. A rescue act with the lower order summoned with a nonchalant exuberance and the smiting of (six) sixes and (nine) fours, swivel pulls and meaty heaves into the leg side. Thanks to Rocky, the Lions recovered from 161 for seven to 319 all out in their first innings. They went on to draw the match, not that you care. You're still thinking about the Flintoff kid aren't you? Or have you moved on to wistfully daydreaming about 2005? Snap out of it you misty-eyed fool.
Flintoff Sr was announced as England Lions coach in September last year. Ed Barney, England men's performance director, lauded the former all-rounder's 'inspirational leadership, coaching expertise, and deep understanding of the game'. Anyone who has watched either series of Flintoff's BBC documentary Field of Dreams would find it hard to argue with anything in Barney's praise. He's clearly brilliant with young people from all backgrounds. Yes, these things are edited but there's no faking the innately nurturing, phlegmatic but no-bullshit way he goes about getting the best out of the show's vulnerable/cynical/charming/maddening first time cricketers.
So yes, Rocky Flintoff's dad, Andrew, is the England Lions coach. And yet, go easy with your cries of nepotism, they don't really stack up when it comes to Flintoff's third eldest child, drowned out by clangingly obvious talent and the sound of tumbling records. Rocky pilfered another decades-old record off his old man last summer when he became the youngest Lancashire player to score a second XI hundred, he's also their youngest debutant in first-class and one-day cricket, and the youngest century maker for England Under-19s to boot. Rocky was on duty with the England Under-19s in South Africa before Christmas when news filtered through that he'd been added to the main Lions squad. Nepotistic titters were few and far between despite the rapid progression of the teenager with the famous surname and a first-class average of 12. Call it the Bethell effect, perhaps, or the fact that England's men's sides of the last few years have contained plenty of shocks and surprises, teenage-curveballs and high-ceilinged hunches.
Add to that the fact that Flintoff Sr has been fiercely protective of himself and his family since his life-changing car crash at the end of 2022 and is only too aware of how a churning media, a sometimes fickle fan base and the exuberance of youth are not an ideal combination. It would go against his best instincts to throw his own lad in for the Lions if he didn't think he was ready to make the step up based on anything other than ability.
Young Rocky would seem to know this too, at the end of the 34-second video, after the air-leaping and kissing he made the universal talking gesture with his glove. Possibly less a 'talk nah, English cricket media?' and more a knowing nod to how many conversations and column inches his century would produce. Guilty, Rocky. Also, that is all conjecture, it could actually be nothing of the sort and the England Lions are working on a new celebration in the mould of 2010/11's Sprinkler. 'The Emu'? Maybe Rocky's dad has not only passed down the swivel pull and ambling gait to his progeny but also his love of classic showman such as Elvis, Johnny Cash and, erm, Rod Hull.
Of course we get carried away with these things, cricket loves cyclical narratives, and father and son stories more than most. After his exploits in Brisbane, Rocky Flintoff is likely just hours away from being named in the Lions' unofficial four-day Test against Australia A in Sydney. If he does well in that match then the next highlights reel will likely be more polished and the story will grow once more. They couldn't, could they? Twenty years on from 2005 … you're getting misty eyed again.
To be here and hear them chanting my name, it hasn't quite sunk in, but it's amazing … it's super special, it's a childhood dream and I'm so grateful' – Hobart Hurricanes lifted their first Big Bash title after Mitchell Owen hit a scoreboard-melting 108 runs from just 42 balls against Sydney Thunder at a raucous Bellerive Oval. Can you be a 'journeyman' aged just 23?
'The England Lions programme is a cornerstone of our cricketing structure, playing a critical role in nurturing the next generation of talent. With Andrew's guidance, the highest potential players will continue to develop, thrive and take their game to new levels. I'm confident his influence will resonate across English cricket, helping drive the game forward.'
The words of Ed Barney when announcing Flintoff as Lions coach last year offer an insight into how the Lions programme works. It has come a long way since its origins in 1982 when an England B side was first established and played a solitary first-class match against Pakistan in Leicester. An England B side then toured Sri Lanka in 1986 before the change was made to 'upgrade' and call them England A for their first full tour of Kenya and Zimbabwe in 1990.
Renamed England Lions in 2007 and integrated with the ECB's National Academy in Loughborough, they now operate as part of the 'men's performance pathway' with the focus on 'technical, tactical, mental, physical and lifestyle development'. Gone are the days when an England A (or B) side was made up of a second XI of cricketers either moving on up or falling on down from the first team.
There's no denying that strength in depth is a good thing and, who knows, with the increasingly packed calendar, maybe English men's cricket's bountiful stocks will be raided like they were in 1930 when for the first (and so far … only time) two English men's Test sides competed on the same day in opposite corners of the world against New Zealand and West Indies. But that's a Spin for a different day.
To January 1998 and England A captain Nick Knight leading from the front with 85 during their first unofficial Test against Sri Lanka A in Kurunegala. It ended in a draw but the tourists went on to secure a 2-0 series win.
It's Sri Lanka v Australia in Galle: check in on day one with our OBO report.
An England win in 2025: Taha Hashim was watching.
'We are making history': Raf Nicholson on the Afghanistan women's XI offering hope for the future as they return to action.
And a record crowd is still expected at the MCG as Australia hunt a Women's Ashes sweep, reports Raf.
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