Sri Lankan player under ICC investigation

London:

The ICC's anti-corruption unit has been monitoring the unusual activities of a leading Sri Lankan player after team members alerted their skipper Kumar Sangakkara of his late-night activities with a man believed to be an illegal bookmaker.

Sri Lankan players passed on their concerns to the captain, who followed ICC protocol by contacting the anti-corruption unit. The player has since been investigated by Sri Lankan police, although no charges have been laid, British daily The Guardian reported on Sunday.

However, Sri Lanka Cricket has kept the entire matter away from the public spotlight by concealing the entire police investigation surrounding the player.

The player concerned has been under the ICC's scanner since the Twenty20 World Cup in England in 2009.

The officials from the ICC's anti-corruption unit are said to be dismayed at the lack of progress.

"The (anti-corruption unit's) working is not that of a policing agency or a newspaper. They have no power to arrest or seize, or carry out a sting operation.

"Getting international players to question the honesty of one of their own team-mates is a considerable challenge, but it is essential if the ICC is to root out corruption," Haroon Lorgat, the ICC's chief executive, said.

The News of the World, which published its expose into cricket corruption a week ago after a sting operation against the Pakistan players' agent, Mazhar Majeed, provides further evidence today to support its allegations.

The newspaper claimed that the Pakistan players face 23 ICC charges between them and that the Metropolitan Police have recovered between 10,000-15,000 pounds of bills marked by the News of the World from Butt's room.

It also states Butt was warned five times that he must report any irregular dealings.

Yasir Hameed, who was recalled for the final Test at the Lord's - the Test that was the subject of the British tabloid sting - was quoted as saying: "They were doing it [fixing] in almost every match. God knows what they were up to."

Hameed, however, denied that he had made the allegations and said he was "deeply disturbed" by them.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Cricket Board said they did not received any official report regarding any player so far.

"Nothing has been reported to us so far, there is nothing for me to comment on this. Nothing has been reported officially but there are media reports about various allegations. So, the official report has to come from ICC," SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said.