Andrew Flintoff turns down coaching role for England’s white ball series against Australia, while son Rocky scores 32 in his maiden first-class innings for Lancashire

Andrew Flintoff will add to his coaching C.V. by helping England during next month’s third Test against Sri Lanka at the Oval — but has turned down the chance to be involved in the subsequent white-ball series against Australia.

His involvement with the Test side would be a rare case of head coach Brendon McCullum inviting an outside voice into his inner circle, having trimmed the backroom staff to avoid complicating his Bazball ethos.

Flintoff recently took his first foray into formal coaching with Northern Superchargers in the Hundred, having worked with England’s limited-overs sides on a consultancy basis. 

And despite the interim appointment of Marcus Trescothick as white-ball coach for next month’s ODIs and T20s against Australia, Flintoff has not yet been ruled out of landing that role following the sacking of Matthew Mott.

The ECB declined to comment on a report suggesting Jos Buttler failed to gel with Flintoff during the recent T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.

Andrew Flintoff has turned down the chance to be involved in England’s series with Australia

Flintoff was recently involved in The Hundred as the head coach of Northern Superchargers

His son Rocky Flintoff, 16, made his first-class debut for Lancashire at The Kia Oval on Thursday

The teenager made 32 runs off 64 balls against Surrey, hitting three boundaries in the process

Flintoff, who will continue to be involved in the coaching set-up with England Lions and the Under 19s, turned down the chance to help out during the Australia series as he wants to spend more time watching his son, Rocky, forge his career with Lancashire, and focus on his coaching qualifications.

Rocky, 16, scored 32 in his maiden first-class innings for Lancashire against Surrey on Thursday as he became the 10th-youngest debutant ever in the county championship on the day he collected his GCSE results.