The middle-aged woman sitting beside West Indies and Lancashire cricket legend Clive Lloyd in the Royal box at Wimbledon was elegantly dressed and her immaculately made-up face beamed with proprietorial satisfaction.

She and Clive, who sported a new grey suit he had bought especially for the occasion, looked for all the world like a couple very much at ease in each other's company.

Both wore gleaming wedding bands and occasionally exchanged the kind of knowing glances usually shared by those on very intimate terms.

Little wonder then that when the images were beamed around the world on television, many people assumed the woman was Clive's loyal wife of 37 years, Waveney.

But they were wrong. It was, in fact, parliamentary hopeful Bertha Joseph, 53, whose main claim to fame, to date, has been that she was the London borough of Brent's first Afro-Caribbean mayor.

As a councillor, she also gained some notoriety recently when she defected from Labour to the Tory Party, for which she has ambitions to stand as an MP.

At her home in Cheshire, Waveney Lloyd viewed the Wimbledon scene on television with jaw-dropping incredulity. A rush of heat infused her body as the full force of her husband's apparent betrayal hit hard. Within minutes her mobile started to beep excitedly, as messages landed from friends as far afield as Canada.

The texts divided, broadly, into two categories, asking either "How are you enjoying the game?" or "Who is that woman with Clive?"

Waveney, 59, had long suspected that her husband, one of cricket's most respected figures, was involved with Ms Joseph, a divorced mother of two sons, and had been, perhaps, for more than 15 years.

But every time she asked if there was someone else, he denied it outright. Here, at last, it seemed was evidence that not even the wily former captain of the West Indies team could wriggle out of.

So, after three decades faithfully protecting Lloyd's considerable reputation and near saintly image as a family man, Waveney decided that she could no longer remain in a marriage that had become little more than a sham. She started divorce proceedings.

Of course, it was not the first time she had caught him out. There were many other occasions, including one when she found him with a naked woman in his hotel room ? but this was, she concedes wearily, humiliation on a global scale.

This time his philandering had not been confined to a dreary hotel room, anonymous telephone calls about his infidelity or the occasional stranger claiming they had met her before, when, in fact, it had probably been Bertha. This time it was on screen for all to see.

"They call him the gentleman of cricket and he makes out that he's such a principled man but he has been a womaniser throughout our entire married life," she says.

"I feel ashamed now knowing that I helped to maintain this charade. That I never had the courage to walk away, while I was still young enough to start over again."

News of her husband's dalliances reached Waveney's ears very early in the marriage but she remained a loyal wife, running a business and raising their children ? Melissa, 34, Samantha, 32, and Jason, 26 ? virtually single-handed, while he travelled the globe.

She supported Lloyd through his illustrious career ? in the Seventies he was an outstanding batsman, electrifying fielder and formidable captain of the West Indies, and he also won over a legion of English fans during his time playing for Lancashire between 1968 and 1986.

In his recent autobiography, Supercat, Lloyd, 64, strives hard to come across as a strong and wise character, exuding dignity, integrity and common sense. The book, hollowly it now appears, portrays him as an exemplary family man of strong moral principles. It states: "Discipline and decency informed his captaincy."

But, as The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal, the truth is that behind the facade of a happy and stable marriage, he was living a double life.

Waveney says: "I've always known that he was sleeping around. It almost goes with his job touring the world. Most of the guys were up to no good. But Clive seemed to have a woman for every continent.

"Over the years, he would come home and I would find items of women's clothing, make-up etc in his luggage or washbag. Once I even found some condoms. He said the company had given the guys samples and he had been left with a supply, in case they were needed.

"It seems foolish now but I let it go. Of course, it was a ridiculous excuse but I really didn't want to believe the worst. Then after a while, I just stopped asking. I was scared of losing him. I loved him very much. I still do.

"I thought marriage was for ever and hoped his philandering would end as we grew old together. But I think I was just giving him licence to do as he wanted. Eventually, he thought I would accept anything he did."

This proud and intensely private woman has finally broken her own code of silence because she wants the world to know the truth.

"I don't really want to air our business in public, to expose myself to public ridicule. But I feel I have no choice. I will no longer suffer in silence. This is my attempt to put the record straight and regain my self-esteem.

"He cheated on me almost constantly. I mostly put up with it but this thing with Bertha was too much. It very nearly destroyed me. My health deteriorated and I suffered a mini nervous breakdown at one stage, when I cried solidly for about ten days.

"People see him as this gentle jovial giant but he is moody and emotionally distant. For much of the marriage I felt as if I had to walk on eggshells around him. I lived in fear of his dark moods. He would give me the silent treatment if I did or said anything he didn't like."

Some people may wonder why she stuck it out so long. "I was very unhappy but too frightened to challenge him," she explains. "I didn't want to be alone and I had three young children.

"He could be ruthless, too. Once when I was in hospital having an operation on my back, he closed our joint accounts and went away for ten days."

That was her punishment for asking about one woman. Waveney adds: "People in Lancashire think he walks on water and that ours was a long and happy union but, while I admit there were some good times, it was always on his terms.

"He grew increasingly indifferent as time went on and was more often away than at home."

How different from those early days in 1968 when they were two young Guyanese expats adrift in London, who met at a friend's house and immediately fell in love.

Waveney was working as a nurse at Bexley psychiatric hospital in Kent at the time.

She recalls: "As soon as he walked into the room and our eyes met, we both felt the chemistry. He was tall, about 6ft 4in, handsome and very funny.

"I didn't know very much about cricket, so when he said he was a cricketer, I asked what he did for a proper job."

Lloyd was already a rising star, playing in the Lancashire League and going away on tour with the West Indies.

Despite her lack of knowledge about the game that was his life's *lo**, Lloyd proposed a year later and they were married in 1971.

Waveney moved to Cheshire and, with her gregarious personality, she quickly became a fixture on the social circuit.

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But in 1974, when she was pregnant with their first child and Lloyd was playing in Guyana, she got her first taste of what lay ahead.

"I had an anonymous telephone call from a woman asking why I was not with my husband. She told me he was at a hotel with his woman," she says.

"When he came home I confronted him and he said, 'Don't listen to gossip. People are always trying to make trouble. It's a lot of nonsense.' I believed him."

It became harder, however, to deny the evidence, especially when she saw it with her own eyes ? such as the time in 1979 when she walked into a hotel room and caught him with a naked woman.

Waveney recalls: "I arrived very early in the morning from Manchester to surprise him. I knocked on the hotel door and he took ages to open up, even though I kept saying, 'It's me, Waveney.'

"But there was just silence. When finally he did open the door, he didn't let me in. I stood in the corridor and looked into the room. The bed was all in disarray and I saw a figure rush into the bathroom."

Forcing her way in, she pushed open the bathroom door.

"I saw a girl crouched in a corner, beside the toilet, with a towel around her. Underneath she was buck naked. She was the girlfriend of another cricketer.

"I felt as if my head was going to burst. My knees went weak and I was shaking uncontrollably.

"Afterwards he told me it had meant nothing ? it was the first time and would never happen again. I wanted so badly to believe him. I never told anyone. It was too embarra**ing. I went back to Manchester and he continued with the tour."

Deep down Waveney knew she was fooling herself. But she followed the advice of her late mother, who told her in 1983: "You know what kind of man he is. Either leave him now or find a way of living with it. He will never change."

One of the few times Waveney fought with him over his womanising was in 1986, when she found "blonde hair" in his bathroom bin while he was staying in London.

"He spent a lot of time in London and started working with a housing charity in Brent, where he met Bertha some time in the early Nineties," says Waveney. "She even threw him a 50th birthday party, to which neither I nor our children were invited."

In truth, the couple were an open secret in certain circles. Waveney discovered many of their friends, mostly men, even attended social events with them.

"Deep down, even I knew it," she admits. "Once mail came to our house addressed in both their names. I even saw one credit-card statement showing how often he sent her flowers."

But despite all of this, Waveney might well have continued in the marriage, had the Wimbledon incident last year not occurred. "It was so open and blatant that I knew the end had come."

Feeling bitterly humiliated, she filed for a divorce two days later.

Her decree nisi has only recently been granted and she now faces a battle to get her share of the wealth built up over the years.

"I have no idea how much there is because he never wanted to discuss finances. We sold a nursing home business in 2005 and so our mortgage is paid off. But he has three other properties overseas and numerous accounts scattered around the world."

In a recent interview Lloyd said he wanted to be remembered as a man who was fair, honest and played with a straight bat. But Waveney claims that he is refusing to give her a fair divorce settlement.

"I thought he would look after me but he wants to leave me with nothing. I will have to fight to leave this marriage with anything. I have been trying to settle the divorce amicably. All I want is a home and a little money to see me into my old age.

"I'm not looking to take him to the cleaners and I don't want to destroy him. But I am very angry and, I suppose, to be honest, I want to hit back.

"What kind of message can he be giving to younger players, to his own son and sons-in-law? That it's all right to treat women badly?"

Since his retirement as a player Lloyd has remained in the game, both as manager of the West Indies and as a Test referee. He is currently in India working for the new and lucrative Indian Cricket League.

Bertha flew out to join him there over the weekend using his Air Miles and the couple were said to have booked into the same hotel in Delhi.

When telephoned about his marriage break-up, Lloyd refused to comment. Instead his solicitor, Catherine Jones, said in a statement: "The divorce is uncontested and Mr Lloyd is being fully co-operative.

"He is disappointed that the matter has been made public but hopes that this will not prevent things moving forward. The couple are currently in mediation and Mr Lloyd is optimistic of reaching an amicable settlement."

That's what Waveney wants but she fears it will not be the case.

"I know he's determined to make me fight for everything. He is not treating me with the respect I deserve for my years of loyalty and support."

37years is a long time badddddddddd nah r*ss

oh gosh. Boi Waveney good fi stick through it, but that man and that bertha woman, gosh man. Anyways, hope waveney gets an amicable settlement, even though she going to have a hard time with this divorce.

well the man travel alot so what she expect? u think mi could go india and all dem place deh and no cut a likkle careless f*k now and den.. cho lady...

too much fi read....wha unnu sey him cheat fi 37yrs?

ouch! 37 years of bun she should have started a bakery

lol@garrick....she run the esater bunny outa bizniz change easter to waveny....lol that way we sure sey bun go still give

hmmmmmm

eeeeeeeeeeeeeee di big sir clive lloyd deh inna mix up too hehe

she stick thru it bcz she lov him. bwoy, girls jus never get it. if mi cheat den wen u find out, dnt forgive me jus leave. big man ting. caz mi a go dweet again. lol