05/06/2026
Match 4 – Home VS Grimsby Pumas – Welcome to Jurassic Park
“Well, that was life. It was an old tree, and the old passed on. Probably they did not mind. There came a time when all sap ran slowly, and the peace of age with all things behind it merged easily into the peace of death. The difficult thing was to be young.”
Mary Roberts Rinehart - The Doctor - 1936
They say lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place. That’s what they say. But “they” talk a lot, don’t they? Yet, tonight, lightening did strike twice. In fact it struck trice – as Mark Hooper not only threw, but landed, 3 genuinely amusing gags! What are the chances...?
Anyway, after a brief hiatus during a period of exceptionally good weather, The Super Rams returned to play on a day that contained elements of every season, and at times all at once. Despite intermittent patches of Amazonian downpours throughout the afternoon, the skies cleared and we took to the game with virtually dry conditions. A true Christmas miracle, in June...
To the match –
Toss lost and fielded first. With 3 of our most beloved bambinos off doing whatever it is the bambinos do, The Venerable Sheep knee-deep in early lambing season and a couple of other stalwarts missing in action, it was down to the old dinosaurs to carry us out of the late Jurassic epoch into the early Cretaceous period (I have got an A-Level in Geology so I know what I’m talking about. If you ever want to chat about your favourite type of coal, I’m your guy...). The wizened sages of Paul Hooper, Allan Tyler and Gary Spencer all turned out, each more than capable of stepping into Dickie Attenborough’s shoes or perhaps even taking the moniker of Tyrant Lizard King.
Captain Random threw himself into the mix first over after a prolonged battle with the digital scorebook. Not great, but not terrible. Gary Spencer took the 4 over spell, absolved himself beautifully and took a deserved wicket. Cameos from Shreeve, Tyler and Johnny-come-lately Scott Freeman with the ball helped proceeding, but a lovely 3 overs from George Holcombe was perhaps the most pleasing of the night. Seeing him grow in confidence and rhythm ball by ball was really nice and we can tell he will only get better as the season goes on. Deserved his wicket too.
Big shout to Hoops too who donned the gloves in lieu of the man, the legend, Craig Ellis. Pretty good job. A possible sniff of a stumping and a nice catch was a decent show all told.
To bat, and after a steady first couple of overs it was another member of the old guard who lead the charge – TC himself – dodgy knee in tow (post match ensconced in a bag of frozen beans), smashed and grabbed a handy 43, ably assisted by Shreeve, Tyler and finally Spencer, who himself faced a baying mob of former teammates and wellwishers. It peaked and troughed like a weather cell crossing the Atlantic, and eventually fizzled out, dumping its load well before time, on the shores of western Ireland, as we again just pulled up short of the required total.
Fun and games pitch side as the Steptoe & Son theme tune rang out as Tyler and Spencer mooched between the wickets. Laughter aplenty in the pub after also, as Hoops continued his comedy repertoire and the gang shared their favourite Jeremy Beadle based anecdotes. Good times.
Cheers to the Pumas who played everything in great spirit and more importantly joined us in the pub after. A fine set of lads.
*Mary Roberts Rinehart was often called the American Agatha Christie and is generally credited with inventing the trope of “the butler did it”. Sadly she wasn’t talking about Jos Buttler, or him turning out for The Super Rams!
