“There’s always pressure, there’s always that voice in the back of your head, saying ‘what if they’re right?'”

Chris Tremlett, an Ashes winner in 2010-11 and also a man who spent much of the summer of 2005 in the England dressing room watching Andrew Flintoff’s heroics at close quarters, is recalling what it was like coming through the professional ranks with an instantly recognisable surname. 

If anyone knows the pressure on Rocky Flintoff’s shoulders after his magnificent hundred – off just 65 balls – for Lancashire against Somerset in the Metro Bank One Day Cup earlier this week, it’s him. 

Tremlett’s dad, Tim, and his grandfather, Maurice, were both professional cricketers – the former with Hampshire, the latter for Somerset and on three occasions England.

“I would get it all the time when I was playing age group stuff for Hampshire or for West of England – there would be people questioning my place in the side or saying that I was only there because of who my dad was,” he tells The i Paper. 

“When you’re a teenager, that’s tough.

“You’re trying to perform like everyone else on the pitch but, off it, you’ve got to be mentally strong.

“You’ve got to believe in yourself and I don’t think I really did until I got my first contract and started taking wickets for the first team.

“I don’t think anything can really prepare you for everything that comes with having a name that everyone in cricket knows.

“And this is me talking. Yes, my dad was obviously a good cricketer but he wasn’t Andrew Flintoff. 

“I can’t imagine what it’s like for Rocky.”

The potential to follow in Freddie’s footsteps

The early evidence suggests that the 18-year-old is wearing the Flintoff name far more lightly than the weight of the bat smiting the kind of mighty sixes that his dad was synonymous with.

The 18-year-old currently averages almost 40 in white ball cricket and, in between shining for England under-19s, also hit a memorable century for the England Lions on their tour to Australia back in January 2025.

In short, he looks to have all the potential required to follow in his old man’s footsteps. 

The same could also be said of Archie Vaughan – son of former England captain, Michael – at Somerset.

Steve Harmison’s son, Charlie, has also recently worked his way into the England under-19 side alongside Joe Moores, the nephew of two-time national team coach, Peter.

Rocky’s brother Corey, also made two first class appearances at Kent at the tail-end of last season after making the switch from Lancashire in March 2025.

When asked about cricket’s generation game, Joe Denly replies: “I don’t have an answer to that.”

He adds: “What I do know is that we’ve never really had that chat as a family beyond talking about the questions that come up when you’re moving through your career as a cricketer.

“Jaydn is a pretty chilled out kind of character, I don’t think he feels that having the name Denly on his back brings any particular additional pressure.”

‘They don’t give a f**k what their Dad did’

One county coach says he believes the positive approach encouraged from players in the modern era, means that some famous offspring don’t even give their lineage a second thought.

“Honestly, I just think a lot of them don’t give a f**k what their dad did on the cricket field,” says one.

“It’s more a case of, I’m here, I deserve to be here and anyone who thinks otherwise can think what they like.”

Others sometimes need a little persuasion from elsewhere.

“I guess when you’ve got someone like Shane Warne [who was at Hampshire with him] telling you that you could be one of the best fast bowlers in the world, then that helps,” says Tremlett, laughing.

“That’s fairly life-affirming. But sometimes you do need to hear that kind of thing from someone else.”

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At Canterbury, sharing a pitch and dressing room with his nephew has had a definite upside for Denly too.

“From my perspective, I’m not really an emotional person, but giving him his caps in all three formats was a really nice moment – not just for me but for the whole family,” he says as he prepares to enter the final month of his career as a Kent player.

“And as a cricketer, I think Jaydn has everything he needs to surpass anything I’ve done in the sport.”

If Rocky does likewise then he will have had one hell of a career.