Imran Farhat sends Mazhar Majeed legal notice

Imran Farhat, the Pakistan opener, has sent a legal notice against the player agent Mazhar Majeed - the central figure in the spot-fixing controversy - who named him as one of the seven players working for him in video footage released by a Pakistani TV channel. The development was confirmed by Farhat's father-in-law Mohammad Ilyas, who is also a Pakistan selector.

"Through our London-based lawyer, Farhat has sent a legal notice to Majeed asking him to prove his allegation," Ilyas said. "If he fails to do so or to apologise, then we will take further action.

"We want Majeed to clarify and prove what he has said, or at least admit that what he said was unintentional and incorrect. Otherwise we will take legal action for defamation."

On November 30, Geo, a Pakistani TV channel broadcast previously unseen video footage of Majeed in which included the names of four Pakistani players who, he claimed, worked with him. The footage is part of the hidden camera recordings that formed the original News of the World sting operation in August. In those, an undercover reporter pretending to be a member of a betting syndicate was seen meeting with Majeed a number of times to allegedly orchestrate spot-fixing scams involving members of the Pakistan team.

At the time the tabloid revealed the names of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, and claimed that there were four others involved but didn't name them. Butt, Asif and Amir have since been provisionally suspended by the ICC, and will face an anti-corruption tribunal in January.