JOHANNESBURG (South Africa) - In his playing days Clive Lloyd was a cool, calculated captain whose style of leadership left no one in doubt who was in charge.

The first West Indian captain to lead a Caribbean side on an historic 5-0 whitewash of England in 1984, the man also known as ``Big Cat'' was also as quick to dispense of the opposition as he is to call ``foul'' of anything he feels has been misrepresented with the side he now manages in South Africa.

A fair-minded man with a strong sense of what is right and wrong, Lloyd was more than aggrieved recently at a story attributed to ``eye witnesses who alleged there had been a fracas'' between the man who went home, Jimmy Adams, and the besieged West Indies captain, Brian Lara.

According to the ``eye witness'' (who said they would produce an affidavit to support their claims, if necessary) there had been an argument on the plane flying the West Indies party back from London to Johannesburg to the delayed start of the tour almost three months ago. Adams, it was claimed, had stepped between Lara and an unnamed player and in the process was injured by a knife.

All Adams tried to do, say the eyewitness was spread calm between Lara and an unnamed member of the side.

``Not so,'' says an angry Lloyd when refuting the claims. ``That was not at all possible. Lara was at the back of the compartment and no where near Jimmy (Adams). Whoever this eyewitness is has not told the truth.

``In any event, such a fight would have resulted in tough action by the captain of the aircraft. Nothing at all happened the way it was suggested and I reject such a claim.''

Lloyd's views have been strongly supported by Dr Ali Bacher, managing director of the United Cricket Board, who was also on the same aircraft. Who, then are the eye witnesses who made such claims?

Well, according to the mobile (cellular) telephone number issued by a man and then a woman, both with Asian accents and which later turned out to be a ``pay-as-you-go'' number did not exist and thus could not be traced. Yet the callers claimed more than once the accuracy of their comments when they approached me (with their number) in Pietermaritzburg during the West Indians match against South Africa A. Numerous attempts to contact them was as puzzling as some of the selections we have had this summer.

Lloyd said the West Indies players had been upset as well as disappointed over such ``unfair allegations''.

He agreed while the tour had not been a good one in terms of results and some players had not performed as well as they might have, the ``aircraft incident'' was not only an unfair attack on the players concerned but ``devoid of any truth''.

The manager said the side had, ``by and large, received a fair press in South Africa during the tour''.

He would like to meet those responsible for spreading such rumours and challenge their side of the story ``with the facts''.