England's cricket establishment last night backed former captain Alec Stewart, who denied receiving £5,000 sterling from an Indian bookmaker, after being named in a police report that sent shockwaves coursing through the game.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said Stewart had never met the bookmaker and is willing to co-operate with any inquiry.

The long-awaited report compiled by India's Central Bureau of Investigation confronted the international cricket authorities with their gravest crisis yet, appearing to confirm that match-fixing has been endemic in India - and ensnared cricketers from other Test countries, including England, West Indies and New Zealand in its web.

Mohammed Azharuddin, a former Indian captain, admits his part in throwing three matches, and receiving money from a bookmaker while former West Indian captain Brian Lara is also implicated in the report.

The report conceded that while India may be the epicentre of illegal betting and match-fixing in cricket, the problem is a global one for the game. In neighbouring Pakistan, where the England team is touring, English cricket officials were left reeling by the report, following the claim that Stewart had been paid £5,000 sterling to supply information to a bookmaker in 1993.

Rumours that English players had been involved in match-fixing had been circulating within cricket for several years but none had ever been named and nobody had ever pointed the finger of accusation so publicly at any English player.

Even Lara, the world's most famous cricketer, was implicated, with one bookmaker alleging that he paid him $40,000 (£37,000 Irish) for playing badly in two one-day internationals in India in 1994.

Even before the report was made fully public yesterday, its contents had started to leak out and the denials were already being issued throughout the cricketing world. From Colombo to the Caribbean, the former great names of the sport expressed their shock and indignation at being implicated by Indian bookmakers.

"I'm shattered that my name is mentioned," said the former New Zealand batsman Martin Crowe who, claimed one Indian bookmaker, took $20,000 (£18,500). "I've never had any contact with these dudes (bookmakers). It certainly never came into direct contact with the New Zealand cricket team at the time, but we did hear whispers of things from the sub-continent."

The former Sri Lankan captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, and his deputy, Aravinda de Silva, also denied any match-fixing. "Both players are now seeking legal advice," said a Sri Lankan cricket board official.

While some of the players named in the CBI report have been accused of being paid to play badly, others like Stewart stand accused of supplying information. For bookmakers, gaining information on which team has won the toss or pitch conditions will affect the odds they set and this can make a difference between winning or losing large amounts of money.

The CBI based its report on the testimony of 16 Indian bookmakers who all confessed to being involved in match-fixing. One of the main names to emerge in connection with the players is Mukesh Gupta, a Delhi-based businessman and parttime bookmaker, who claimed that he paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to players in return for playing badly or supplying information.

Indian officials have conceded that there is not enough evidence in the report to bring criminal charges. It will now be sent to the world's cricket authorities, who will be responsible for taking action against any of the players named.

In England, former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Condon - head of the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit - is to investigate the claims against Stewart and eight other cricketers. The England and Wales Cricket Board promised full co-operation with Condon's inquiry, but said Stewart would not be suspended from playing for England and would remain on the current tour of Pakistan.

According to the Indian report, Stewart was paid by Indian bookmaker Mukesh Gupta in return for supplying information on pitch and weather conditions during England's 1993 tour of India and Sri Lanka. There is no suggestion he was paid to fix matches.

The ECB said that Stewart denies "ever knowingly having met Mr Gupta." It added: "Alec Stewart has fully co-operated with the ECB over this matter, and has categorically denied to Lord MacLaurin, chairman of the ECB, and Tim Lamb, chief executive, that he has ever taken money from Mr Gupta or anyone else, for providing information related to a cricket match."

Stewart's naming in the report could further sour already tense relations between Pakistan and England who are currently playing each other.

Lord MacLaurin, chair of the ECB, had said that any player under suspicion of match-fixing and refusing to co-operate with an official inquiry should be suspended.

General Tauqir Zia, chair of the Pakistan Cricket Board said last night: "They (ECB) did not realise that if they throw stones at any country the same thing may come back on them."