NAIROBI, July 13, 2008 (AFP) - Former Kenyan cricket captain Maurice Odumbe, who was banned in 1994 for five years for match-fixing has been left penniless after being hit by lawyers with a hefty bill to foot his legal fees.

'You destroyed my career, you destroyed my marriage and family, you have made me a begger. What do you want from me? My life,' Odumbe told the Sunday Standard newspaper in an interview.

'All my friends have forsaken me. Politicians who were close to me have distanced themselves. I am jobless and hungry ... Do I deserve this? is this all the gratitude the cricket world can give me, one of its most illustrious sons.'

After he was banned for five years for his association with Indian bookmaker Jagdish Sodha, Odumbe sued the International Cricket Council and the then Kenya Cricket Council (now replaced by Cricket Kenya) for an unfair ruling, but lost the case.

Now lawyers have asked him to pay 572,000 shillings (8,564 dollars, 5,400 euro) for the cost of the suit, but Odumbe says he is broke.

'Where do I get that sort of money now? Aren't they persecuting me,' he said.

Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, the former judge who headed the enquiry, found Odumbe guilty on 12 counts, including accepting 5,000 dollars for 'fixing a match in Zimbabwe,' coldly described the former star as 'callous and greedy.'

'Far from shouldering this responsibility, Mr Odumbe has shown himself to be dishonest and devious in his behaviour in relation to the game of cricket. He has been callous and greedy in the way he has conducted himself.

'There is no suggestion that he was in desperate straits and in dire need of money because of some serious difficulty which may have befallen him. The evidence, if anything, shows him living a lifestyle of pleasure and irresponsibility,' Ebrahim wrote in the final report.

At the 1994 hearings, his two former girlfriends and an ex-wife implicated him of inappropriate behaviour.

At 39, Odumbe seems to have given up ever playing cricket again after a turbulent career that was marked by his outspoken style which led to frequent brushes with Kenyan cricket authorities.

In 1998, he was suspended and fined by the Kenya Cricket Association for criticising the national cricket team selectors and was relieved of the captaincy of the national team in 2002.

Odumbe played for teams in South Africa and Britain and also graced three World Cups.

Other career highlights include playing in 61 ODIs, and captaining Kenya to a famous victory over West Indies at Pune in 1996.

He won a Man-of-the-Match award in three consecutive World Cups, most recently against Bangladesh at Johannesburg in 2003, when his unbeaten 52 and a four-wicket haul carried Kenya towards the semi-finals.