Flintoffs are the tip of the iceberg while the sons of England’s 2005 heroes are making their mark

It only took three punches for Rocky Flintoff to set social media on fire. Flintoff lowered his head as he pulled the ball, with the power and timing to launch it over midwicket, and hit three sixes for Lancashire’s second XI last week. The mere release of the clips made comparisons to his father, Andrew, irresistible. Rocky backed up his half-century against Durham with a century against Warwickshire on Tuesday.

“He’s a real standout,” says Mark Garraway, who worked with Flintoff senior when he was England assistant coach from 2006 to 2009 and is now director of cricket at Millfield School and a fixture on the youth cricket circuit. ‘The way that front leg came up reminded me a lot of Freddie’s spinning movement. You could see Fred hitting people like Brett Lee in 2005. It was very similar.

Rocky Flintoff is part of a trend. Many of English cricket’s most famous names, including several children of the heroes of the 2005 Ashes, are finding their way into the game. To the Flintoffs – Rocky, 16, and older brother Corey, who is 18 and also plays for Lancashire’s second XI – can be added Michael Vaughan’s son Archie, 18, who is impressing at Somerset and is well placed to make a earn a professional deal. Steve Harmison’s son Charlie, 16, is a fast bowler in the Northumberland set-up.

Move away from just the class of 2005 and the counties are littered with children of former England players. Michael Atherton’s son Joshua de Caires is impressing as an off-spinning all-rounder for Middlesex and has already been called up by England Lions. This year’s England U-19 World Cup squad included two sons of international cricketers: Luc Benkenstein, Dale’s son, who represented South Africa; and Haydon Mustard, who, like his father Phil, is an explosive keeper-batsman.

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Famous surnames passed down from generation to generation are nothing new: in England and beyond, cricket has always been a deeply family game. Of England’s total 713 Test cricketers, 159 – almost a quarter – have had a father, uncle or brother represent the country, according to figures compiled by Telegraph Sports Scyld Berry in his book Cricket: the game of life.

Many of the children of the 2005 generation spent their early years playing with their fathers and other English cricketers on pitches around the world. Garraway remembers throwing balls to a two-year-old Archie at the Basin Reserve in New Zealand.

“The kids end up spending a lot of time on cricket fields,” says Garraway. “There is a natural link with it because we spend so much time on it. And it’s a sport that people become very passionate about. They have good experiences, because that’s what you want in sports, right?”

Cricket’s idiosyncrasies make the family a particularly important gateway into the game. The challenge of learning the rules and getting used to a sport that can last for days is much easier for those steeped in cricket from birth. Seeing their fathers idolized can also encourage children to try to follow suit.

“Children are likely to be aware that their pro-athlete parent has a special status,” says Dom Malcolm, professor of sport sociology at Loughborough University. Being a professional athlete – especially a cricketer, with the travel that entails – will dominate family life much more than normal nine-to-five jobs. “Children of professional athletes are likely to be immersed in the world of sports from an early age and consider it a realistic career goal.”

Easy access to facilities and family tolerance for this peculiar game can accelerate a child’s development in the early years. But passion on the cricket field cannot be forced; Reaching the top requires desire from within. Vaughan deliberately sent Archie away from the family when he was 14 because he did not want to have a controlling influence.

“He loves his cricket and always wants to learn,” says Steve Harmison of his son Charlie, joking: “Just doesn’t listen to his dad too much.”

Atherton is “very good at keeping his space,” De Caires said. “It’s something that I’m obviously very proud of my father for, but I’m happy that I can continue with my game.”

Training time and coaching alone are not enough to make it in any sport; the “10,000 hour rule” is neither necessary nor sufficient for any aspiring athlete. Kerry Packer, the founder of World Series Cricket, proved the same with his son James. Young James played cricket on outfields and in corridors with many of the best players in the world. His father then hired a private coach, former Test cricketer Barry Knight, and installed an early model of a bowling machine to try to turn James into a professional. It did not work.

So here lies the essential contrast between sports and many other industries. Other jobs can be passed on to the family, just as Packer senior did with his business interests to James. Sports success cannot do that.

Yet sons of cricketers have a significant advantage over even the young Packer: their genes. To see Rocky Flintoff batting sixes, or Charlie Harmison, who is already 6ft tall and now looking to grow taller, is to see two young cricketers with a physique that gives them the opportunity to copy their brilliant fathers. Archie’s cover drive and back foot drive would evoke Michael’s elegant strokes. Although Archie has also impressed Garraway as captain of Millfield, his style more closely resembles the ‘solidity of Andrew Strauss’ than his father’s more adventurous approach.

For the children of the 2005 generation, the landscape has changed in one respect compared to the children of past greats. Players in the 1990s, and especially the 2000s, were the first to make serious money from cricket. In many cases this allows them to send their children to independent schools with excellent cricket programs. Archie Vaughan attends Millfield and joins the school after being impressed by the cricket facilities when his father did some coaching there. Corey and Rocky Flintoff attended Manchester Grammar School; The son of former England cricketer Mark Ealham, Surrey-based Tommy attended Cranleigh School.

Those surnames, and the memories they evoke, bring their own pressures. Yet Garraway notes that, especially in a world as close-knit as elite youth cricket, boys become accustomed to comparisons with their fathers. ‘They never knew anything different. They have always been associated with it. By the time they get to this age, they’re pretty used to dealing with that.”

Should England again field a team with a Flintoff, a Harmison and a Vaughan, their parents will have played an important role: instilling a love of the game, even if not consciously, and also helping with the genetic lottery. But cricket teams don’t care about a player’s surname, just the runs and wickets they yield. If the children of 2005 go anywhere to emulate their illustrious fathers, it will be a testament to their own talent and hard work.