Cricket buffs will know that Marylebone Cricket Club – better known as the MCC – were founded in 1787, moved to Lord’s 27 years later and own the most famous cricket ground in the world.

You don’t have to be a fan of cricket to have heard of the MCC, of course, but you probably do have to have an interest in a sport that has spawned the likes of WG Grace to know that there is a new team on the block that also boasts the initials MCC.

And they’re very close to home too. Cheltenham-based Montpellier Cricket Club were conceived on Sunday 17th July last year at the Cheltenham Cricket Festival and as with any good idea they grew quickly, so much so that within nine months they were rubbing shoulders with the big boys of local cricket for the first time.

And they came of age pretty quickly, too, sweeping to the Division Two East title in the Cheltenham/Gloucester/Forest League as they won 15 of their 17 matches.

As with so many successful teams, their origin can be traced back to a few mates having a couple of beers.

One-time Cheltenham Saracens, Cheltenham Civil Service and Cheltenham cricketer Richard Gunn is one of the driving forces behind the newly formed club and he told The Local Answer: “A few of us always go down to the last Sunday of the festival.

“There were several of us – about six or seven of us who had played cricket for Cheltenham Saracens and about another half-a-dozen who had never played the game before.

“Saracens had folded five years earlier and someone said, ‘Why don’t we form our own team?’ and before anyone could say anything James Denley answered, ‘I can’t think of anything better than spending a Saturday afternoon with my friends’, and it went from there.

“I sent an email to the league asking how we could join and they told me we’d need insurance which wasn’t an issue because one of the guys is an insurance broker.

“We also needed a ground so I got in touch with the council and they offered us Burrows playing field in Leckhampton. Job done.

“All we needed then was a name and we were trying to think of affluent areas in Cheltenham. We came up with Montpellier and discovered there had never been a Montpellier Cricket Club before.”

So with all the off-field stuff sorted, MCC looked forward excitedly to the start of the new season in May. Not that they had too many expectations.

“There were seven or eight of us who had played before,” explained Gunn, “but there were a similar number who had never played a game before. They’d played squash, badminton, tennis, snooker so had some hand-eye coordination but there weren’t any budding Peter Mays or David Gowers! They weren’t the prettiest on the eye!”

They may not have been the prettiest on the eye, but winning ugly is one of the secrets of any successful sports team – and it wasn’t just the ‘cricketers’ who could look back with pride on some handsome contributions over the season.

“We had rolling captains,” explained Gunn, who is the club’s chairman. “We had a different one each game and each captain was presented with an MCC cap before the game in our club colours of red, white and blue.”

Gunn won his game as captain, as did 14 of the others of course, but who was the best captain?

“One of the guys who had never played cricket before,” laughed Gunn. “Martyn Derrett. We scored 299 in the game he was captain and we bowled them out for 80. We moulded him into an opening batsman as well.

“One of the two games we lost came a day after we’d all been at the cricket festival!”

While Derrett will pick up the captain of the year trophy at the club’s end-of-season bash at the Exmouth Arms on Saturday 21st October, Gunn says the most improved ‘non-cricketer’ was Ashley Burgoyne.

“We’ve made him into a bit of an all-rounder,” Gunn chuckled. “He hits the ball a long way – it can be six and out – and he also bowls medium pace. He has the knack of swinging the ball. He doesn’t know how he does it but we’ve told him not to worry about that and just keep on bowling!”

Bowling is something that Gunn, who started playing cricket at 14, still manages to do even at the age of 47.

“I used to be pretty quick when I was younger, now I’m very, very slow,” he laughed. “And even then the body really suffers, although I’m not the only one. When I’m batting it’s one or four these days, I can’t run any threes. The average age of the side is 40-41 and one of the standing jokes at the club is that our changing room always stinks of deep heat!”

Gunn may be slower than he was, but he’ll still be picking up a couple of awards at the Exmouth later this month for being the club’s highest run scorer and having the best bowling average.

He’ll need to continue his form into next season when they will be playing in Division One East and will be welcoming teams from Dumbleton, Hatherley, Cheltenham Civil Service and Tewkesbury among others to Burrows.

Those teams will enjoy playing a new fixture against a club that are called MCC, although anyone fielding just backward of square on the far boundary near the hedge won’t be in front of the Mound Stand or Tavern Stand, of course, but instead they’ll be trying to stop the ball in front of the Burrows Pump Track, which for those who don’t know is a new facility that is currently being built for cyclists.

If you like your cycling it looks pretty impressive and Montpellier’s track at Burrows is okay too. You get the impression that they’ll be there for quite a while because MCC are a club that look set to run and run.

Montpellier Cricket Club end-of-season awards

Queen’s Cup for most runs: Richard Gunn, 424

Imperial Cup for most wickets: Arren Kinder, 26

Sandford Shield for highest batting average: David Miller, 54.67

Spa Shield for best bowling average: Richard Gunn, 19 wickets at 9.74

Tivoli Trophy for captain of the year: Martyn Derrett