Con man dupes BBC as Pakistan star

A club cricketer in northern England has duped the BBC into paying him to appear on programmes by pretending to be the former Pakistan batsman Nadeem Abbasi.

Abbasi is furious about being impersonated regularly on BBC World News, BBC Asian Network and Radio Five Live and told The Sun that he would punch Alam in the face if he ever met him for "damaging the country's reputation".

Abbasi, 46, played three Tests for Pakistan in the late 1980s and now coaches a team in Rawalpindi. The wannabe Abbasi is reported to live in Hulme, a suburb of Manchester, and has just played a bit of local cricket in and around Huddersfield.

A BBC spokesman said: "We apologise to the real Mr Abbasi and we will be looking seriously into what has happened."