With match-fixing rearing its ugly head once again, England Test captain Andrew Strauss has asked his teammates to be more vigilant and report the matter to the authorities if they come across such a situation.

“We have a duty if we hear of match fixing in domestic cricket or with England to come forward and report it straight away. For players to be tempted to take bookmakers’ money is ludicrous,” Strauss said.

Talking to reporters on the eve of his side’s first Test against England at Lord’s, Bangladesh skipper Shakib-al-Hasan also said he got a call on the eve of Bangladesh’s ODI series against Ireland in 2008, promising him sponsorship in return for under-performance.

Strauss said he himself has never come across of any match-fixing incident but stressed on the need to eradicate the menace straight away. “From my experience, I haven’t seen anything in the Middlesex dressing room or had any reason to suspect that a game I have played in has been fixed in any way. If it is happening, it needs to be stamped out straight away,” Strauss said at Lord’s.

Strauss, on his return to Test cricket, said he was excited to be back among the group again and hoping to fire with the bat.

County player approached

Meanwhile, according to The Daily Telegraph, a seasoned English county player claimed that an Indian businessman had approached him to fix one-day domestic matches, a development which sent alarms in the cricket fraternity. The report, which was published on Wednesday, said a player, who has more than 10 years’ experience in English cricket, was told by the Indian businessman to quote “his own price” and that “things are already happening in county cricket”.

The player, who remains anonymous, has reported the incident to authorities and the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) would be contacting the ICC’ Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACU) on the player’s behalf, the report said. “They basically told me I could name my price for providing them with knowledge of the result of the game. They made me believe other counties are already involved,” the player was quoted as saying.