DUBAI: The International Cricket Council on Monday dismissed a claim in a British newspaper that Indian bookmakers were fixing the results of English county games and overseas fixtures.

The chief executive of the sport's world governing body, Haroon Lorgat, described a report in Britain's Sunday Times that it was probing last year's World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan as "baseless and misleading".

"The ICC has no reason or evidence to require an investigation into this match," he said in an emailed statement to media.

"It is indeed sad for spurious claims to be made which only serve to cause doubt on the semi-final of one of the most successful ICC Cricket World Cups ever."

The weekly claimed on Sunday that it had uncovered evidence that tens of thousands of pounds (dollars) was on offer to players to throw part or all of international matches, including the crunch semi-final between the bitter South Asian rivals.

India won the match and went on to beat Sri Lanka in the final.

One New Delhi-based bookmaker was quoted as saying that English county cricket was a "good new market" because matches were low-profile. Money was on offer to batsmen to score slowly and bowlers to concede runs in a set pattern, the report said.

The allegations came just weeks after former Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield became the first English cricketer to be jailed for corruption, after admitting accepting money to fix a match against Durham in September 2009.

Last year, Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer were also jailed in Britain for their role in a separate "spot-fixing" scandal concerning a 2010 Test match against England. AGENCIES