Richard Gegg’s magnificent seven have been calling the shots on cricket fields all over Gloucestershire for many years.

And there won’t be any place for opposition teams to hide any time soon as the youngest of Gegg’s children, Ewan, is only 15.

It’s a remarkable cricketing family, beginning with Gegg senior, who started out with Bisley before moving to Stroud, Cheltenham and then back to Bisley.

Now 60, the one-time prolific batsman still plays for Gloucestershire over-60s as well as turning out for Frocester 4ths when they need someone to make up the numbers.

With the exception of his oldest son Daniel – “He only played when a team was short,” said Gegg – all the boys are passionate about cricket.

If seven-a-side cricket ever caught on the Gegg gang would take some beating because Daniel, now 34, is followed by Jack, 31, Louis, 28, William, 26, Callum, 21, Angus, 19, and Ewan.

“All of them play for Frocester except Daniel,” said their proud dad. “We’re a massive cricket family. I stopped playing every week five years ago but I played with all of them when I was at Bisley. Even Ewan would have had the odd game.

“Jack, Louis, William and Callum all scored 100s for Bisley and I played with Jack, Louis and William when I was at Stroud.”

Theirs is a close family. All the children attended Bisley Bluecoat School before moving on to Thomas Keble School at Eastcombe.

Gegg senior was born in Stroud and started playing cricket for Bisley at the age of 15.

He was to spend 19 seasons with the club in his first spell there, captaining the side in the Stroud Cricket League.

He was a good middle order batsman who made over 50 centuries and particularly remembers matches against near neighbours Oakridge.

“We used to call them Russia because we were always at ‘war’ with them,” he laughed.

A desire to play at a higher level took him to Stroud in the then Western League where he captained them and where he enjoyed a best-placed finish of fourth one year.

“I loved it at Stroud and Bisley,” he said. “It was a good standard at Stroud and I also became chairman of the club.”

He played with some very good players at the Western League club including Jack Russell, Mark Alleyne, former New Zealand seamer Chris Pringle and ex-Gloucester fly-half Martyn Kimber, who is now director of sport at Wycliffe College. He says Kimber is “the best player I’ve played with”.

After two seasons at Cheltenham he returned home to Bisley before he and his family made the big move to join Frocester, who have been one of the dominant forces in club cricket in Gloucestershire over recent years.

He has kept a close eye on the progress of all of his sons and has watched with great pleasure as Jack, Louis, Callum and Ewan have all been selected for county age group teams.

Ewan is young enough to still be involved and his dad is enjoying watching him develop.

He’s still got some way to go to match the achievements of his older brothers, however.

“Daniel only played the odd game,” said Gegg, “but Jack was very, very good. He was very talented. He’s a chef now which limits how much he can play at the weekends but he still plays for the 4ths as a batsman and a seam bowler when he can.

“Louis was Stroud’s 1st XI wicketkeeper at 14. He got into Gloucestershire’s academy at the age of 12 and was in all the age group teams up to 19.

“He spent two years at Lansdown when he was a teenager, when the ex-England player Paul Jarvis was Captain, and also got a county contract at 22.

“He now opens the batting and keeps wicket for Frocester’s 1sts. He’s the best of the boys without a doubt, although Ewan is pushing him.

“William is just starting to play again in the 4ths after being in the Navy for six years. He’s a batsman who bowls some seam.

“Callum is 21 and playing for Frocester 2nds but is very close to the 1sts. He’s a talented opening batsman and pushing his brother Louis as a fine keeper.

“Angus is the bowler in the family. He’s pretty sharp and plays for the 2nds and the 1sts. He’s got to work on a few things but he’s still young and got potential.

“Ewan is already in the club’s 3rds and has been part of the county set-up for the past three years. He recently scored his first 100 in a Twenty20 game for Frocester and is also a very good wicketkeeper.”

At the top of every successful family, of course, is a strong woman and the Gegg household is no different.

Gegg has been married to Fiona – “the girl next door” – for 34 years and says she’s the “rock of the family”.

When asked if he’d have liked a daughter he said he’d “never really thought about it” before adding with a laugh: “If we’d have had an eighth boy we’d have called him Henry!

“Even our dogs, cats and the hamster are male!

“Fiona drives us to and from games, she washes and irons our kit and still does the teas. Nobody ever misses a game.”

In years to come Fiona may get some help at the cricket from granddaughter Raven, who is aged five and the daughter of Daniel.

Or maybe not. Perhaps Grandma had better not get her hopes up as Raven’s a Gegg, so in years to come she’s much more likely to be out in the middle making runs rather than in the kitchen making teas!