We followed the letter of the law - Ponting

Australian captain Ricky Ponting is satisfied with the manner in which his team handled an approach from a suspected illegal bookmaker after the Lord's Test. As revealed by Cricinfo on Wednesday, a member of the Australian squad was approached in the bar of the team's London hotel, the Royal Kensington Garden, and immediately raised the matter with the team management.

Australia's team manager, Steve Bernard, filed a report to the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, and the matter is now under investigation. Ponting said the issue was now the ICC's to resolve.

"As the players and as a team we did everything that we were supposed to do by the letter of the law," Ponting said. "We reported it to the ICC. It's now under ICC investigation. There's no more that we can say about it because of the investigation going on. I don't want to talk about it too much because of the investigation happening at the moment. We've got other things to worry about than that. We'll let the ICC look after it."

The ICC has since confirmed its investigators have received the report from the Australian team management on the approach to the player. The ICC said that there was "no evidence of any illegal activity" and praised the player concerned and the Australian team management for reporting the issue.

"There is no indication that any matches in the current Ashes series or the ICC World Twenty20 2009 have been affected by corruption in any way and the ICC is confident the issue is under control," it said in a statement. "The ICC does not intend to reveal specifics of any approaches to players because doing so would have the potential to be counter-productive to any investigations and also to relationships of trust the ACSU has developed."

Dave Richardson, the ICC's general manager, stressed the need for ongoing vigilance in defending the game from corrupting influences. "Cricket is more popular than ever before and with that popularity comes the opportunities for growth but also challenges such as the one highlighted by the approach to an Australian player," Richardson said.

The ACSU is investigating a number of approaches made to players during the World Twenty20. The Australian newspaper reported on Thursday that a member of the Australian Twenty20 squad was approached by a man with suspected links to illegal bookmaking during that tournament.