When the twelfth man was actually a woman

'There's an old West Indian saying that spin and gin do not go together, and I'm afraid it told in the end'

I have received many letters paying tribute to the late Princess Margaret in the wake of her lamented death, and I think it is only right to print a few of them today.

From Sir George "Gubby" Trotter

Sir, In all the admiring obituaries of the late Princess Margaret, and in all the grudging ones too, I have seen no mention of her deep and abiding love of cricket. People go on about how she could play the piano and sing "Roll Out the Barrel", but to my mind she deserves far more to be remembered for her slow right arm.

I first came up against her spinning when I was playing for a Combined Services XI against a Palace Team shortly after the war. I don't think any of us had heard of most of the royals who took the field against us in Egypt that hot day in 1948, but we certainly wanted to know the name of the slim girl who tweaked the ball to such effect that she ended up with figures of 5 for 46.

"My name is Margaret," she said, "and you can bow when you talk to me, or don't talk at all."

No wonder she always got on well with men. She was so like one herself.

yours etc

From Mrs Dorothy Baker

Sir, I can vouch for the foregoing. Princess Margaret was a cool spin bowler and a tough cookie, as they used to say. I am talking about the 1950s, when she was having such a hard time during her romance with the royal equerry, Peter Townsend. I know this, because I was social secretary for the RAF sporting events at the time, and Townsend came to me one day with a peculiar request.

"Dotty, " he said, "I'm playing for the RAF XI against the Yanks In England XI next Saturday, aren't I ?"

"Yes, Peter," I said.

"Have we got a 12th man?"

"No, not yet."

"Then put down a friend of mine as 12th woman," he winked. "Name of Meg Windsor."

None of us was really meant to know, but it was his way of getting her into these games without attracting publicity. Funny thing was, in that very game one of the fielders was injured and we did need a 12th man. I was in suspense to see if the Princess would come on as substitute. However, she clearly saw it as beneath her station to act as a mere fielder and sent on her lady-in-waiting instead.

yours etc

From Sir Arthur Gimlett

Sir, That sounds like the Margaret I knew. I was sometimes called on umpire in private cricket matches at Sandringham and Windsor, and though Princess Margaret was the only royal who would unbend enough to take part in the games, she insisted on protocol, which meant that every time she bowled her tricky spin deliveries to a commoner batsman, she insisted on him bowing to her after she had bowled and before he had hit the ball, thus often getting himself out.

"Helps to be a royal in cricket, Artie," she said to me. "Did I ever tell you that the 'yorker' was actually named after the Duke of York ?"

"Yes, often," I always replied.

She could be very imperious even with umpires. Once, when she was bowling, she appealed and I gave the chap not out. She turned to me and said: "One thinks it was out". And by Jove, I had to change my verdict !

yours etc

From Winston Leggett

Sir, I never knew Princess Margaret till her later years, but I can testify that she could still turn the ball well, especially on coconut matting in the West Indies. Sadly, by that time her general fitness was not what it had been, and although she grumbled at not being picked for the Mustique First XI, the Mustique Second XI (or Royal Reserves) was more suited to her ability. I think it was the good life that got to her cricketing ability; when she was playing, the square leg umpire not only had to hold the sweaters, but a large tray of drinks, to which HRH had frequent recourse. Well, there's an old West Indian saying that spin and gin don't go together, and I am afraid that it told in the end.

Many cricketers smoke in secret, but she is the only spinner I ever saw who didn't even remove the fag from her mouth while bowling. Once, after a long day in the field, she looked at all the stubs and cigarette ash lying around the bowling end and said to me: "Well, Winston, I think you can say we retained the ashes today all right..."

I often wonder what she meant by that.

yours etc