MELBOURNE, Oct 9: Australian cricketers cautiously welcomed moves Tuesday by the International Cricket Council to subject Test players to lie detector tests every six months in a bid to catch match-fixers.

International Cricket Council chief Malcolm Speed said Monday an unnamed national captain had floated the idea in a survey, suggesting international players, umpires and officials should undergo the tests.

The ICC will meet next week to vote on the proposal.

Australian batsman Greg Blewett said while he would happily take a lie detector test, he had reservations about its reliability.

“You see people on television come out and say they can beat the test, other people come out and say yeah it’s 100 per cent accurate, so I guess that sort of test you never really know,” he said.

But Australian Cricket Board chief executive James Sutherland and Australian Cricketers Association chief Tim May had serious doubts.

“We’re keen to put in reasonable procedures to ensure we can eradicate match fixing from the game, but there are reasonable procedures and unreasonable procedures,” May said.

“My gut feeling at this stage without knowing the reliability of lie detectors, this may well be on the unreasonable side.”

Sutherland said the idea was probably not “appropriate” although he said his board was open minded about the concept.

He said the legality of using lie detectors needed to be investigated fully.

The lie detectors were proposed as a way of catching match-fixers who have dragged the sport into disgrace over the last few years.

The ICC also said Monday they were determined to impose tougher penalties for players and would continue to pursue match-fixers.

Disgraced former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje is currently challenging his life ban from cricket in the South African courts.—AFP