Cricket’s anti-corruption police are dealing with a record number of up to 20 cases from matches at all ­levels of the game, from Tests down to private leagues.

It is almost a three-fold increase in the number of cases since November last year as cricket battles constant attempts to corrupt the game by illegal bookmaking rings mainly based in the subcontinent.

It has surprised Alex Marshall, the International Cricket Council’s head of anti-corruption who is one year into his job and has told The Telegraph that his team are investigating “live” approaches to international captains, as well as ­reports from players, coaches, ­support staff and administrators.

The high number of cases is partly a reflection of players reporting more and the widening of investigations to include those not covered by the ICC’s anti-corruption code, such as bookmakers and third parties. This is to enable the ICC, working with local law enforcement, to build a better picture of the people at the top of organised crime orchestrating the fixing.

In November last year Marshall said he was looking into seven live cases, including approaches to three international captains.

Now four international captains have reported approaches in the past year – two resulted in charges and the others remain under live investigation. The two that resulted in charges are understood to relate to approaches (both rebuffed) to Pakistan’s Sarfraz Ahmed and Zimbabwe’s Graeme Cremer and were investigated last year by the ICC.