BRETT Lee and Mitchell Johnson, two of Australia's highest profile cricketers, were approached by match-fixers during last year's Ashes series.

As the international betting scandal deepened last night, Cricket Australia confirmed Lee and Johnson were approached at the Australian team's London hotel by a suspected gangster linked to illegal Indian bookmakers. The same cheat had already offered dinner and drinks to Shane Watson and Brad Haddin.

Lee's high profile on the subcontinent made him an obvious target for bookies looking for inside information on the Australian team.

Johnson's status as the strike bowler for Australia also made him valuable.

Lee was with Watson, Johnson and Stuart Clark at the bar and the players immediately rejected the offer and reported the incident to both Australian team officials and the ICC anti-corruption unit.

The man is under investigation by the ICC.