Freddie Flintoff bowling

Just How Good Might Rocky Flintoff Be at Cricket?

He may only be 16 years old but already Rocky Flintoff is finding himself gaining plenty of attention in the cricketing world. This is to be expected, of course, when your father is Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff, one of the most celebrated English cricketers of the modern era. Although having a supremely talented dad is no guarantee of success, Rocky does appear to be a genuine cricketing talent who is making his way on merit. Just how far can the 16-year-old go though? That is the burning question we will attempt to answer here.

An Emerging Talent


Cricket runs in the Flintoff family so it is little surprise that some of Andrew’s four children have taken a shine to the sport. Rocky’s first serious experience of cricket was when playing for the Alderley Edge Cricket Club and the St Annes Cricket Club in 2020. With his talents known, he was called up to play in the 2023 Bunbury Festival. This cricket tournament sees the best under-15 boys in the country gather and play for one of four squads.

Playing at the event is a common passage for a lot of England stars. In the 2019 Cricket World Cup, 10 of the 11 England players who took part in the final played in the Bunbury Festival. Joe Root was one of the 10 and he is far from the only England captain to have been involved. Michael Vaughan is another as is Andrew Flintoff himself. So, while no guarantee of future success, a Bunbury Festival call-up does bode well.

Following on for the Bunbury Festival, Rocky made his debut for Southport and Birkdale in the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition. An impressive first display saw him score 76 runs from 98 balls. Skip forward a matter of months and while still 15 (just), Flintoff made another debut appearance, this time for Lancashire second-XI.

Lancashire Call Up

Rocky debuted for Lancashire’s second XI in April 2024 and debuted with an unbeaten half-century from 78 balls. A week later, he put on quite the display, amassing a century against Warwickshire second-XI. His total of 116 from 165 balls made him the third youngest player to score a century in the 2nd XI Championship. It also made him the youngest-ever century hitter for Lancashire 2nds, over-taking his Dad’s record. Witnessing this, Lancashire thought to act fast and offered Rocky a professional contract in June 2024.

Rocky then quickly made his List A debut against Kent, becoming Lancashire’s youngest-ever player in the process aged just 16 years and 113 days. Just over a week later, he scored 88 runs against Middlesex at Old Trafford and then made his first-class debut on 22nd August. Surrey comfortably won the match, earning victory by an innings and 63 runs, but it was more of a mixed tale for Flintoff himself. Although caught for a golden duck in the second innings, his first innings of 32 was very solid for such a young debutant.

Early Career Stats

Old Trafford Cricket Ground
Old Trafford Cricket Ground (Anthony O’Neil, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikipedia)

Much like his father, Rocky is a right-handed all-rounder with a medium-fast delivery. It is his talents with the bat rather than with the ball though that saw him given a professional contract by Lancashire. Despite this, he has found life tricky batting at First-class level. When making his Old Trafford first-class debut, Flintoff could only muster eight runs across two innings against Hampshire. He is yet to better his 32 debut score although he does only have three first-class games to his name at the time of writing.

Matches Runs Scored Batting Average Top Score
First-Class 3 74 12.33 32
List A 7 167 23.85 88

There are no bowling figures to report as he is yet to bowl at either level but in time we may see the youngster given more opportunities with the ball in hand.

International

On the international stage, Rocky has not featured much but he did enjoy a call-up to the England Under 19 team in June 2024 to face the Young Lions Invitational XI. Scoring a match-winning 106 that day, he then bagged himself another century in the second four-day match against Sri Lanka. Managing a total of 106 from 181 balls, he beat the record set by Ian Bell for the youngest player to score a century for the u19 team. His other scores during Sri Lanka’s tour were 22, 3, 13 and 9.

How Big Is the ‘Flintoff’ Factor?


Having a dad who performed at the very highest level of cricket no doubt gives Rocky some advantages over fellow aspiring players. Not only is there the genetic aspect, having half the genes of a former top-level athlete but there are other perks too. Not only can Rocky’s dad provide him with valuable information but he will have the connections to make sure his son has lots of opportunities, access to top coaching and so on.

Father Son Cricket Duos

Despite this, there are fewer examples of father and son playing at an elite cricketing level than you may think. In the history of English cricket, 13 father/son duos have represented the Three Lions. In four of these cases, the father only made one Test appearance too. Having both a father and son who turn out to be England regulars is an extremely rare sight, so the name does not appear to count for too much.

Corey Flintoff

It’s also worth remembering that Flintoff has another cricketing son, Corey, who plays for Lancashire’s Under 18 side. Corey may prove to be a serviceable County Cricket player but there is little expectation he will reach a higher level than this. Not only is he two years older than his younger brother but he has yet to debut for the senior side. It could be that he is a late bloomer but far more likely is that Corey will not reach the top levels of cricket despite the advantages of having Andrew Flintoff as a dad.

Rocky: A Gifted Young Talent

It is difficult to say exactly how just how prolific Rocky Flintoff’s cricketing career will be. There is no doubt that he is a genuine talent and has shown bags of ability at a young age. If he continues to progress and work hard, he might realistically be someone who eventually earns themselves a senior England cap. This may be just as a batter or possibly as an all-rounder, it may depend on just how much Rocky grows into the large, powerful frame his father had.

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