NEW DELHI: London-based bookie Mazhar Majeed’s claim that he had “access” to Yuvraj and Harbhajan Singh has been dismissed as “rubbish” by the two cricketers.

Harbhajan has even threatened legal action, along with Aussie pacer Nathan Bracken, whose name also cropped up during the trial of three Pakistani players alleged to have indulged in spot-fixing orchestrated by Majeed.

Another star player named by Majeed, ex-Australia captain Ricky Ponting, too dismissed the link-up.

Majeed boasted about his associations during his (taped) conversations with undercover News of the World reporter Mazhar Mehmood, and the recordings were played out for the jury on the fourth day of the trials in London. Majeed told the undercover reporter that he managed ten Pakistan cricketers, as well as “a couple of Indian players”, Nathan Bracken and Chris Gayle of the West Indies.

Both Harbhajan and Yuvraj reacted strongly, saying they had never even met Majeed.

“I don’t know who this person is, I have never met him. We will definitely take some action against him. I don’t whether it will be legal action or whatever,” a furious Harbhajan told reporters in Nagpur, where he is playing in the Challenger Series.

“But I will definitely bring it to the BCCI’s notice and I’m sure they’ll take the right kind of action against these kind people who are trying to spoil the game.”

Yuvraj took to Twitter to vent his ire. “And who is Majid!! Absolute rubbish! Don’t no (sic), never met! The problem in India is if some one says a rooster has given an egg it will become news!! Whether it’s true or not it doesn’t matter,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Bracken’s manager Rob Horton told the Daily Telegraph: “Nathan would never ever be involved in anything like that at all. He’s thinking of taking legal action in London to protect his reputation.” Horton added.

Majeed is heard saying on tape that he knew Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Roger Federer and Brad Pitt. He claimed he knew “all the agents” of leading players, including that of Ponting. Ponting’s manager dismissed the claim and Waqar also denied involvement, saying “There’s nothing in it.”

Aussies unfairly maligned: CA

In Melbourne, Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland dismissed claims that Australian players were involved as “baseless” and “outlandish”.

“The sweeping statements unfairly malign Australian cricketers. We haven’t been able to speak to the ICC but we will definitely make contact with them very quickly.

The ICC attends every single international match with their anti-corruption unit and there is nothing I have heard to suggest that there are Australian players who are of interest to them. If we charge players and we find them guilty we will have no qualms about issuing a life sentence on players who are found guilty of match fixing,” he said.

HYDERABAD: England batsman Jonny Bairstow is not reading much into their big win over Hyderabad XI in warm up game on Tuesday, saying to compete against world champions India will be an altogether different ball game but was also pleased with they way his side has prepared for the series.

England thrashed Hyderabad XI by a massive 253-run margin in their final warm up game ahead of the ODI series, beginning Friday.

“It is obviously going to be a massive challenge. Coming to India, playing in the backyard of the world champions is challenge. We are pleased with our preparations so far.

“Without doubt, it will be a completely different challenge. However, we are pleased with the way we have been preparing and hopefully, we will go into it on the high of the two wins we had,” Bairstow, who hit a magnificent 58-ball 104-run knock told reporters.

The young batsman was ecstatic at their dominating performance.

“Fantastic. Clinical performance by the boys. We are obviously delighted with the way we started the game and post a good total. Without doubt, Everyone contributed. Meaker got three wickets in a over and the performances are pleasing. It is fantastic to see everyone coming into the side,” he said.

HYDERABAD: England prepared for the ODI series against India in style as they trounced Hyderabad XI by a huge margin of 253 runs in their second warm-up game with Jonny Bairstow smashing an unbeaten century and Scott Borthwick taking five wickets for the visitors, on Tuesday.

Bairstow slammed a whirlwind 104-run knock off just 58 deliveries as England XI produced a dominating batting display to amass a mammoth 367 for four.

They then shot out the local side for a paltry 114 in 35.1 overs with leg-break bowler Borthwick wreaking havoc with figures of 10-0-31-5.

Except for openers Akshat Reddy (37) and D Ravi Teja (27) no Hyderabad batsman could resist the British attack as they lost the last nine wickets for just 45 runs.

Reddy and Teja collected 69 runs for the opening wicket but the scoring rate was too slow as they took 15.1 overs for those run when a mammoth target was before them.

Borthwick dismissed Reddy to break the partnership and then ripped apart the Hyderabad top-order.

After dismissing Reddy, Borthwick scalped next man in Hanuman Vihari (0) two balls later and then returned to send back Teja.

Medium-fast bowler Stuart Meaker (3-30) polished off the lower-order by taking three wickets and it was a smooth win for British team ahead of ODI series, beginning Friday.

Earlier, coming onto bat at number five, Bairstow stole the show with a whirlwind 104-run knock off just 58 deliveries after captain Alastair Cook (85), Craig Kieswetter (71) and Jonathan Trott (74) gave England a solid start.

Bairstow used his long-handle to great effect and smashed a sorry-looking Hyderabad attack to all parts of the ground from the word go. He hit as many as six boundaries and eight sixes en route his unconquered innings.

The visitors made up for their poor batting performance in the first practice game as Cook and Kieswetter shared quick-fire 159 runs in 104 deliveries for the opening wicket after opting to bat.

While Cook was aggressive at the top, smacking 11 fours and a six, Kieswetter played the role of a sheet-anchor with three boundaries and as many hits over the fence.

Left-arm pacer Mehdi Hasan (3-63) snared all the three English wickets — Cook, Kieswetter and Kevin Pietersen (10) — with Trott becoming a run out victim.

If the 159-run opening stand was not enough, Bairstow and Trott added to Hyderabad’s misery by stitching 143 runs for the fourth wicket in just 95 deliveries to take England past the 350-mark.

Hyderabad, who failed to overhaul England’s modest 219-run target in the first warm-up match, were to produce a spell-binding batting effort to get over the imposing total.

LONDON: Pakistan cricketers were ready to throw one-day internationals and Twenty20s in a bid to undermine then-captain Shahid Afridi and make “a hell of a lot of money”, a London court heard on Tuesday.

Mazhar Majeed, an agent for several Pakistan players, told an undercover reporter last year that the players wanted Afridi replaced by then-Test captain Salman Butt and were prepared to fix matches to do it, Southwark Crown Court heard.

The court also heard how a shadowy Indian contact offered the agent $1 million (740,000 euros) to ensure Pakistan lost a Test match against England.

The jury in the trial of Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif saw video of meetings between Majeed and the News of the World’s investigation’s editor Mazher Mahmood.

Mahmood, a star reporter for Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct tabloid, was posing as an Indian frontman for a Far East gambling syndicate.

Prosecutors allege Butt and Asif agreed for no-balls to be bowled as part of a spot-fixing betting scam.

The two players have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, and conspiracy to cheat at gambling.

The jury saw covertly-filmed footage of a meeting between the agent and the reporter at a London hotel, at which Majeed told Mahmood he had appeared on the scene at the right time ahead of one-day internationals and T20s between Pakistan and England.

The footage showed Mahmood handing over 140,000 pounds and Majeed counting it out.

“A lot of the boys, they want to f*** up Afridi because he’s trying to f*** up things for them, and he’s the captain of the Twenty20 and one-day,” Majeed claimed.

“They all want Butt to be captain… They want to lose anyway.”

The agent went on: “The timing you’ve come into is perfect because the one-days and the Twenty20s are about to start.

“We’re going to be making a hell of a lot of money in the Twenty20s and the one-dayers.

“Say for example Twenty20. I will tell you the bowlers, how many minimum runs they are going to concede, which is much more than usual. They are going to concede those runs.

“With the batsmen I’m going to tell you how many, say for the example the two opening batsmen Salman and Kamran (Akmal) for example, you’ve only got 20 overs, they’re going to waste two overs, three overs… The Twenty20s are the easiest.”

The jury also saw footage of an earlier meeting in Majeed’s London home, where the reporter recorded the agent on the telephone with an unidentified man in India, discussing deliberately throwing the England vs Pakistan Test match at The Oval, which was under way at the time.

Majeed called his Indian contact and told him: “What offer can you give me for today’s game? Tell me, just give me a figure now, we haven’t got long.

“There’s a possibility, I’m just telling you that now, they’re talking at least 1.2 (million) — at least. In dollars.”

The prosecution alleged that Majeed and the mystery contact were floating the possibility of Pakistan deliberately losing the game.

Referring to the number of Pakistan players under his wing, Majeed said: “Boss, you know how many I’ve got, you know that they do it. So of course that’s not a problem. But you just give me the figure and I’m going to get back to you. We haven’t got much time. One million, yeah?”

The Indian contact replied: “I give you one (million dollars). One I give you, but has to be a definite game score.”

In the event, Pakistan beat England by four wickets later that day.

The court heard a secretly-recorded phone call later that day, in which the agent told the undercover reporter that his players were offering to spot-fix elements of matches for 150,000 pounds.

The agent said they could not understand why he was reluctant to hand over the amount on trust, especially when the usual fee was 250,000 pounds.

Majeed said: “What they’re saying is if this guy gives 150 we’ll give him two brackets (periods of play during which elements can be pre-arranged), whatever he wants, for the next game.

“They’re not willing to give you anything until you give a large, substantial amount.”

The reporter had already paid 10,000 pounds, but the agent said it was “peanuts”.

“They (the players) just said to me: why is he not delivering?,” Majeed said. He told the reporter that Butt had asked: “What else does he want?”

Majeed and young Pakistan bowler Mohammad Aamer have also been charged with the same offences but are not standing trial alongside Butt and Asif.

HYDERABAD: Jonny Bairstow slammed an unbeaten century as England XI produced a dominating batting display to amass a mammoth 367 for four against Hyderabad XI in their second 50-over warm-up match on Tuesday.

Coming onto bat at number five, Bairstow stole the show with a whirlwind 104-run knock off just 58 deliveries after captain Alastair Cook (85 off 74), Craig Kieswetter (71 off 86) and Jonathan Trott (74 off 68) gave England a solid start.

Bairstow used his long-handle to great effect and smashed a sorry-looking Hyderabad attack to all parts of the ground from the word go. He hit as many as six boundaries and eight sixes en route his unconquered innings.

The visitors made up for their poor batting performance in the first practice game as Cook and Kieswetter shared quick-fire 159 runs in 104 deliveries for the opening wicket after opting to bat.

While Cook was aggressive at the top, smacking 11 fours and a six, Kieswetter played the role of a sheet-anchor with three boundaries and as many hits over the fence.

Left-arm pacer Mehdi Hasan (3-63) snared all the three English wickets — Cook, Kieswetter and Kevin Pietersen (10) — with Trott becoming a run out victim.

If the 159-run opening stand was not enough, Bairstow and Trott added to Hyderabad’s misery by stitching 143 runs for the fourth wicket in just 95 deliveries to take England past the 350-mark.

Hyderabad, who failed to overhaul England’s modest 219-run target in the first warm-up match, will now have to produce a spell-binding batting effort to get over the imposing total.