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Brett Lee, Johnson targeted by fixer

The Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Telegraph said Lee and Johnson were confronted in the team hotel’s bar during the tour of England, fuelling fears over illegal betting after a newspaper sting snared an alleged match-fixer.

On Tuesday, batsman Shane Watson and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin revealed how they were approached by the same man, who is believed to be Indian and is suspected of links to illicit bookmakers in his home country.

The Herald said all four players reported the encounters to Australian team manager Steve Bernard, who submitted their names to the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit.

“The trouble in this case was that the gentleman was staying in the same hotel,” Bernard told the paper.

“The guys weren’t approached about spot-fixing or anything like that, he was asking if he could buy them drinks. The players used their judgement and decided to report it to me.”

The accounts come after a British newspaper said it paid an alleged match-fixer 230,000 US dollars to organise no-balls by Pakistan during last week’s fourth Test against England, reviving fears of widespread corruption.

The man, who was arrested and later bailed, also reportedly boasted that he earned 1.3 million US dollars for fixing January’s Sydney Test between Australia and Pakistan, when the visitors threw away a commanding position.

Cricket Australia called the report “most disturbing” but said it would wait to see more evidence before making any further comment.