London, July 25 : International Cricket Council (ICC) chief Haroon Lorgat has hit back at former Australian captain Steve Waugh's claim that 56 cricketers reported illegal approaches by bookmakers to the governing body last year.

Waugh recently claimed that the number of illegal contacts by bookmakers reported had risen dramatically over the last two years. Waugh said only five reports had been made by players in 2009, while 56 were lodged in 2010.

But, ICC chief Lorgat believes the increase does not reflect greater corruption. He said the increase in the number of reported instances shows that players are now more aware of their responsibility to report illegal approaches by bookmakers, The Sydney Morning Herald.

Lorgat also blasted Waugh about the authenticity of the figures he was revealing.

"I am not sure where Steve Waugh gets that figure from because we do not publish any such information," Lorgat was quoted, as saying.

"What I can say is that we have substantially more players coming forward and reporting approaches made to them and I think that is a result of the education process, the awareness that we have created amongst all of the international players and that is a good thing," he added.

Waugh, a member of the MCC''s world cricket committee, has called players to take lie-detector tests in a bid to root out corruption from cricket. (ANI)