"That's what she wanted so that's what she got," Peter said, barely disguising a wide grin. 

"It would be great if there was a better avenue where girls could play cricket and mix it with the boys."

But it shouldn't be surprising that Peter and his wife Jill have offspring who were developing an interest in the game. 

"I married into a cricket-mad Hopper family 17 years ago and Jill has been putting up with me playing ever since. In that time we've never had a weekend off in summer for 17 years," Peter said. 

"Now we're getting a bit older and planning to do a few more things together on the weekends. The trouble is we have four girls who are now telling me that they love coming to the cricket and that I should keep playing."

Although the statement appeared a touch rehearsed and a tongue seemed to be suspiciously lodged in the cheek, the bets are on that Peter Cramer will keep playing for a while yet. 

The aggressive stroke-maker has become part of Horsham Cricket Association furniture and rates among one of the most influential players in the region for the past two decades. 

Peter has experienced remarkable success in the game in Horsham and in 25 years has probably missed the finals only twice. 

His record playing with Horsham, Horsham City and Homers clubs also includes more than a generous handful of premierships and a great swag of personal highlights. From the mid-1970s he evolved from a promising young top order bat to one of the best players in the competition. 

Boasting a healthy sporting arrogance and an intense, busy and super-efficient attacking style; he won an honor of becoming one of the cricketers who everyone else loved to hate - in one of the teams that everyone else loved to hate. Such was his and his team-mates' impact on the game. And he's loved every minute of it. 

"I was with the Hoppers and Wades against the Rushes, McRaes and Morgans. And I absolutely loved the competition. Each week I couldn't wait to tangle with them," he said. 

"Competition was a lot fiercer then, I'm talking real aggressive cricket. But at the end of the day it was all forgotten. You knew that if you had made runs you'd earned them."

Peter obviously has plenty of sporting highlights but rates a 1990 premiership with Horsham City and a premiership with Homers last year as special. 

And it's little wonder that the 1990 title stands out as a personal highlight. 

Peter took on a major leadership role in charge of some of the brightest young cricket talent in the Wimmera. And as joint president, secretary, treasurer and pennant grade captain, watched his charges score a massive one-sided win against Homers. 

To cap it off, he scored a century in the game and snared man-of-the-match honors. 

"It was a big buzz to be in charge of such keen, good young cricketers. It wasn't just the grand finals, the whole finals series was a highlight," Peter said. 

"To get to the final we had to beat a very strong Rupanyup side. We didn't make many runs but Craig Murdoch took seven wickets and we won. In truth that was probably more satisfying than the grand final. Nothing was to stop us after that."

The records show that Horsham City made 461 in the grand final, the Cramer century, 91 from Brenton Massey and half centuries to Bill Ainsworth and Steve Arthur dominating the scorecard. City then bowled Homers out for 88, Chris Forbes capturing 8-39 in the process. 

Peter's highlight for Homers in the grand final against Rupanyup last year was based around the ebb and flow of the game and the team effort needed to win. 

"There were four or five swings and the things that make the game great such as partnerships, catches and bowling and batting efforts. The high-light personally was when Barry (Hopper) and I batted out a couple of boring hours to stop their chance of an outright. It was just a great team with."

Peter said he also took great satisfaction of playing with the 'next generation' of family cricketers. 

"I was seriously in sides at 16 and part of the power plays in Horsham cricket." he said. 

Peter said staying in the game became harder each year because of work and family commitments and the issue of retiring always came up at the end of the season. 

"Jill says she'll believe it when she sees it and the kids say 'don't you dare' but last year I went on holidays and didn't come back to play, which wouldn't have happened years ago. 

"The aim is to eventually take a few more weekends off."

In 1983 Peter and Jill put their wedding back to 6pm to make sure cricketing family members could attend, and the game has remained part of the summer weekend family ritual. 

Peter said it was hard to imagine what it would be like without cricket. But whatever he decided, daughters Samantha, 14, Lauren, 13, Ebony, 10, and Emma, 6, will make sure the family backyard cricket matches with the Hoppers keep him in touch.