Rocky Flintoff, son of Ashes legend Andrew, became the youngest cricketer to score a hundred for England Under-19s on the third day of the second Junior Men’s Test against Sri Lanka at the College Ground in Cheltenham.

With his father watching from the stands, the 16-year-old scored 106 (181) runs as England reached 477 runs and 324 runs in the first innings.

The right-handed bowler, who hit nine fours and two sixes, stitched a 121-run partnership with captain Hamza Shaikh (107 off 211 balls) for the fifth wicket and then added another 78 with wicketkeeper Jack Carney.

After reaching triple figures in 178 deliveries, Flintoff punched the air in celebration and removed his helmet to salute his teammates. A few deliveries later, he was dismissed after slicing through the hole to long-on while facing Sri Lankan leg-spinner Praveen Maneesha.

The youngest England Under-19 cricketer to score 100 runs was Ian Bell, who achieved the feat against New Zealand in February 1999, aged 16 years and 313 days.

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“He’s a lovely kid in the group but when it comes to batting and infield play he changes,” England Under-19 coach Michael Yardy said.

“He’s a normal young guy in the group, but when he comes out he’s more like a 25-year-old.

“Rocky scored a hundred against the invitational XI and he really celebrated and that’s what you want. You want it to mean something to the players. When you represent your country and score a hundred, it should feel special.

“He’s a young kid and when they do something special, we want him to show that passion and desire and emotion. He did it today and it’s going to mean even more to him because his family got to see him do it.”

Flintoff became the youngest cricketer to score a century in Lancashire’s second 11 earlier this summer, smashing the record set by his father 30 years ago.

England’s Under-19 squad also includes Archie Vaughan, son of former Test captain Michael, and Joe’s nephew Jaydn Denly, who played 44 games for England between 2009 and 2020.

Sri Lanka are still 78 runs behind on the third day with 7-246.