Odumbe hires top criminal lawyer

Maurice Odumbe, Kenya's former captain, has enlisted the services of one of Kenya's top criminal lawyers as he attempts to prove his innocence in the case filed against him by the International Cricket Council. The inquiry into allegations of match-fixing is due to start in Nairobi on May 19, and will be presided over by Ahmed Ebrahim, a Zimbabwean judge.

Ishan Kapila, who will defend Odumbe, is the son of Achhrro Kapila, who represented Jomo Kenyatta in a famous pre-independence trial in 1953, after he was accused by the British government of being one of the chief instigators in the Mau Mau freedom movement.

The ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit will serve Odumbe the papers within the next week. He is alleged to have received payments from at least one Mumbai bookmaker in 2002, so that he could coerce his team-mates into underperforming in matches. If found guilty, Odumbe - who has been the face of Kenyan cricket, along with Steve Tikolo - faces a life ban.