Lancashire captain Keaton Jennings is in awe of the “blissful naivety” of Rocky Flintoff.
Flintoff, the son of former England captain and 2005 Ashes hero Andrew, turns 17 next week but has already made waves with some standout displays at domestic and England age-group and Lions levels.
He could get the nod in the Rothesay County Championship in the coming weeks, with Lancashire starting their Division Two campaign at Middlesex on Friday, and plenty will be keen to see how he fares.
While Jennings was reluctant to heap pressure on Flintoff, the opener with 17 England Test caps has been very impressed by what he has seen so far from Lancashire’s youngest ever first-team cricketer.
“I don’t want to use the word naive because everyone is naive at 16 but I love the blissful naivety he plays with,” said Jennings, who will be hoping to lead Lancashire to Division One promotion this year.
“There’s no fear, there’s no scarring, there’s pure excitement to go out and perform. Just from his net sessions, he literally stands and hits the ball, he wants to just play and score runs and I love that.
“Hopefully we can keep that scarring out of his head, that would be amazing. But the biggest thing for me is he enjoys playing, you can see his enjoyment in playing the game and actually hitting the ball.
“I probably didn’t have that as a 16-year-old. I thought every ball was a threat, which he doesn’t. Hopefully he can keep going and play some really good cricket.”
Flintoff recorded Lancashire’s youngest ever second-team century last summer then did the same for the Lions on the winter trip to Australia – on both occasions snatching the record from his father.
Matty Hurst, another rising prospect at Old Trafford, was in the XI in Brisbane and the 21-year-old believes England’s senior set-up is having an influence on the likes of him and Flintoff.
“You saw when he scored a hundred – just being able to let nothing faze him,” Hurst said. “He takes everything in his stride and he’s just able to put himself on the park and perform at a high level.
“The new generation of Bazball, you’re not scared to fail and I think that’s a good thing about him that if he does mess up, he’ll go again and keep coming. He’s such a young lad, he’s still got that drive, he’s still got the enthusiasm and determination to keep getting better and better and better.”
Flintoff’s older brother Corey, 19, has this week signed a two-year rookie contract for Kent and the pair could come up against each other this year.
Jennings added: “The family heritage they have will breed that competitive nature and will breed them wanting to do well for each other and try and outdo each other, which will only be good for them.
