Maurice Odumbe: a complicated tale

A newspaper article in Kenya is claiming that there is more than meets the eye to the International Cricket Council's decision to investigate Maurice Odumbe for alleged match-fixing.

The report, in the Nairobi-based East African Standard, says that Odumbe, Kenya's former captain, is the victim of the anger of two women - one his estranged wife, the other a former girlfriend - and an unnamed official of the Kenyan Cricket Association, who almost came to blows with Odumbe during last year's World Cup.

Quite how the trio have influenced the ICC is not made clear, but there is a clear implication that they have played their part in getting Odumbe into the spotlight. According to the newspaper, they have, at various times, accused him of "all sorts of weird things, from dealing with bookies to drug peddling". And that, the report surmises, is where the ICC's interest began.

The bookmaker with whom Odumbe is alleged to have had a friendship is an Indian who had helped him with some personal matters - but it is said that Odumbe did not know he was a bookie. If that is true, then the various telephone conversations between the two would have a less sinister undertone that might at first seem to be the case.