Close on the heels of the spot-fixing row involving Pakistanis, a leading Sri Lankan player is under the International Cricket Council (ICC) scanner after his colleagues reported his proximity with a man they believe is an illegal bookie.

'ICC's anti corruption unit has been monitoring the activities of a leading Sri Lanka player since the World Twenty20 in England last year after teammates became increasingly unsettled by his late night fraternising with a man they believed to be an illegal bookmaker. They passed on their concerns to the captain, Kumar Sangakkara, who followed ICC protocol by contacting the anti-corruption unit,' The Guardian reported Sunday.

The player has since been investigated by Sri Lankan police but no charges have been laid.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has admitted to a general sense of frustration.

'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,' Lorgat was quoted as saying.