Like Father Like Son For England’s Cricketers Of The Future - 5 minutes read
In 1996, Liam Botham, the son of the legendary England all-rounder Ian, burst onto the cricket scene with a five-wicket haul for Hampshire on his first-class bow. Ian Botham had taken five wickets on his Test debut in 1977. It was a stunning entry into the game for the then 19-year-old who dismissed former England skipper Mike Gatting. At one point, the prodigy said he wanted to take more wickets and score more runs than his father. The confidence of youth was overflowing.
The following year, Botham junior left cricket after just two further matches for the first-team squad. The pressure of being the offspring of a great was ultimately just too much with the media eye forever looking through that prism. He switched to rugby to pursue a respectable career without the direct comparison.
After Liam had retired from the oval-shaped games, he starred in Andrew Flintoff’s testimonial match in 2006. Flintoff was always touted as the next genuine version of Botham. Until he became Freddie, unburdened by the next cab off the rank comparisons. He famously starred in the classic 2005 Ashes series win which brought cricket to a wider audience and brought back memories of Ian’s heroic deeds against the Australians.
While Flintoff senior has been involved with England’s white-ball side in recent times after a traumatic accident filming for the BBC series Top Gear, his son Rocky is making quite the entrance with a number of striking appearances this summer. The 16-year-old hit a century in an Under-19s Test against Sri Lanka in July as well as a hundred for Lancashire’s second XI in April. He backed that up with a maiden half-century for the Old Trafford team.
Headlines have already indulged in the inevitable comparisons. Rocky sets up for the swivel pull* (*just like his dad), and there’s more of where that came from in the media coverage. It is always hard for the all-rounder’s child, knowing that their parent excelled in the two main forms of the game. Stuart Broad had all the mental attributes his fiery father Stuart possessed, but has 604 more Test wickets and 142 more matches under his belt. "I never felt pressure to replicate the success my dad had enjoyed as a cricketer. Both my parents instilled an attitude of striving to push myself to be the best I can be, but always ensuring that I had fun doing it," said Stuart in an interview with the Guardian.
Rocky Flintoff is just one part of the new generation of talent born from England heroes of that classic 2-1 victory over the Australians almost two decades ago. Former skipper Michael Vaughan’s son Archie also teamed up with Flintoff junior to play against the Sri Lankans. He signed his first professional contract with Somerset in May this year.
Michael Atherton’s son was the man who caught Flintoff for 88 on the boundary. Atherton, who scored 16 Test centuries and captained his country 54 times, is the proud parent of Josh de Caires. De Caires managed to skip the immediate pressure of the kneejerk comparison by inheriting his mother’s maiden name. It wasn’t a strategic move to lie low. The 22-year-old has used the connection to joke about batting styles with his father. Deadpan humor is also inherited.
TAUNTON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 02: Rocky Flintoff of Lancashire and Archie Vaughan of Somerset pose for a ... [+] photo ahead of the Metro Bank One Day Cup match between Somerset and Lancashire at The Cooper Associates County Ground on August 02, 2024 in Taunton, England. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)Getty Images"Someone asked me if I bat similar to him, I couldn't tell you for the life of me. I have hardly ever seen him bat! From what I have seen he just blocks the crap out of it, which is pretty similar to me,” De Caires told BBC Sport back in 2021.
It runs in the family after all. Alun Williams is a Professor of Sport and Exercise Genomics at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Institute of Sport. “Having a parent who succeeded in elite sport will probably help their child succeed because of some helpful genetics they inherit. But perhaps even more important is the opportunity, encouragement, knowledge and inspiration that a successful sporting parent can provide,” Professor Williams told me.
Last year, De Caires was selected for the Lions for the first time. He even reinvented himself as an off-spinner and now bats down the order for county club Middlesex. Whatever sporting genes he took will stand him in good stead.
“In cricket, some good genes that help people perfect new skills and some for better than average muscle power, together with the family cricketing tradition and nous, should give an advantage over most others,” Professor Williams continued.
It looks like England’s golden era of Millennium players has seeded the stars of tomorrow.
Source: Forbes
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