Test captains should submit to lie detector: Steve Waugh

London, July 20 (ANI): Former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh has said that there is a need for cricketers to take lie detector tests to stamp out corruption from the game.

Speaking ahead of the 2,000th Test match, Waugh said that he wants leading captains such as Andrew Strauss and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to act as ambassadors and role models by voluntarily putting their reputations on the line.

Waugh, who is the chairman of the MCC world cricket committee working party that was charged last year with investigating ways that corruption might be eradicated from the game, was quoted by the Guardian, as saying: "Captains from each country should be promoted as ambassadors and role models who pledge to educate and protect other young players."

"We are looking for ambassadors among team members to put up a hand and say that down the track they will do one of these polygraph tests to be the role model and the leader in their teams," he added.

"Record numbers of players reported last year that they had been approached by bookies. These players need mentors. The culture and values of the team come directly from the captain as well as the coach and the manager," Waugh said.

Strauss and Dhoni, regarded as the two most successful captains in world cricket, have the status to give the MCC campaign a kick-start and, with Waugh and the rest of the MCC cricket committee at Lord's, their support will be sought for the scheme over the coming days.

"Legally you can't force lie-detector tests on people and you can't presume guilt if people refuse to take a test - it is a voluntary thing," Waugh said.

"But it is about giving the public confidence that the game is legitimate and is being played the right way. This is the first step in a long process of exploring how we can get the game in a better state," he added.

Waugh underwent a polygraph test in April in Melbourne, supervised by one of Australia's foremost polygraph examiners, Steven Van Aperen, a former Victoria police detective.

Waugh passed convincingly and the test can be seen at lords.org/liedetector.

Polygraph tests are inadmissible as evidence under English law. (ANI)