Darrell Hair, the former Test umpire, tried to "blackmail" the International Cricket Council (ICC) into paying him off through "sheer mudslinging", an employment tribunal heard on Wednesday.

Hair is suing the ICC for alleged racial discrimination after he was sacked for his part in the Pakistan v England Test debacle at the Oval in August 2006.

ICC lawyer Michael Beloff accused Hair of trying to pressurise the body into paying him off by threatening to go public with allegations of racism, in the wake of a controversial decision against Pakistan at the Oval last year.

Hair was one of two umpires officiating in the fourth and final Test between England and Pakistan at The Oval who awarded England five penalty runs because they believed Pakistan had illegally tampered with the ball.

Pakistan were incensed by the decision and refused to return to the pitch after the tea interval. The match was eventually awarded to England, who took the series 3-0.

Hair contends that, while he has not been allowed to officiate in Test matches since, his co-umpire Billy Doctrove, a West Indian, has escaped censure.

He argues that his competence as an umpire had never been questioned, and racism was the only possible explanation for his suspension.

Earlier, Hair described a phone call in which another senior umpire, Rudi Koertzen, had referred to the Pakistan team as cheats. But Beloff accused him of "sheer mudslinging".

"What you were hoping to do was cause the ICC maximum embarrassment and cajole them into making some sort of offer to you," Beloff said.

Beloff noted emails which Hair sent in the aftermath of the Oval Test, in which first he offered to resign for a one-off payment of £250,000, then revised the offer after speculation about possible racism allegations.

"I suggest that this is an example of you saying 'if you don't accept the offer, I am going to make all sorts of allegations around the racism issue.' "It was blackmail, wasn't it?" he said.

Hair said it was not blackmail, but admitted that he regretted having sent the emails.

Beloff also described as a "scurrilous smear" allegations by Hair that Nasim Ashraf, the Pakistan Cricket Board chief, had reputedly been involved in financial irregularities.