Bangladesh fast bowling coach has Vincentian roots

by Robertson Henry

When the Bangladesh cricket team arrived in St Vincent and the Grenadines in June, 2024 for their ICC Men’s Twenty/20 Cricket World Cup matches, and later in December, 2024 for their three Twenty/20 International matches against host, West Indies, among the management team was one individual with Vincentian roots.

He is Andre Adams, the fast bowling coach for the Bangladesh National Men’s Cricket Team. The former New Zealand all-rounder was appointed in February, 2024, on a two-year contract, with his first assignment being the home series against Sri Lanka. Andre Adams, is the son of Keith Adams of Bequia who is now resident in New Zealand, which is where Andre Adams’ parents met; his mother is Guyanese.

Speaking with SEARCHLIGHT at the end of the second T/20 International on December 17, 2024, at the Arnos Vale Cricket Grounds, Adams said, “…I heard a lot about St Vincent and Bequia and Guyana. I had my first trip here in June with the World Cup …. It took 49 years, but I managed to make it finally”.

He said the first trip was a bit of a stress but their arrival for the bilateral series was more relaxed.

“The first trip in June was quite emotional. We were supposed to get here in the evening and so we would have flown in and I would have seen St. Vincent and the Grenadines as I flew in, but the flight was delayed by five hours and we got here very late … we had quite a long trip to Sandals and I didn’t realize the roads were quite so winding when I got here,” Adams related.

“So we’re all packed in this bus and we’re making our way to Sandals and got there, and then I wake up in the morning and you look back out from Sandals … you look back out at the mountain and I was like … wow, this is amazing … and then everyone was so friendly.”

Adams compared Vincentians generally to his dad- “pretty relaxed and pretty understated”, and noted that he found everyone to be “so kind and so happy”.

Playing for New Zealand, the coach said, “my first game against the West Indies … my only game against the West Indies was at the World Cup 2003, and so, West Indies are another opposition when you’re playing a game, but coming to the Caribbean obviously, there’s a deep connection here. This place feels like home, particularly St. Vincent and Bequia … it feels like home, so it doesn’t feel like I’m in a foreign part of the world”.

Adams expressed pride to be a descendant from the Caribbean.

“It’s something that I’ve managed to connect with finally.”

Speaking of his childhood, Adams said he got into cricket because there was not much from which to choose at the time.

“ My dad has got a pretty big family, so there were five uncles in New Zealand … we played beach cricket. As I got a bit older, I started watching a bit more and then actually the ‘92-’93 series Australia versus West Indies was when I really fell in love with the game.”

Adams, who met a few members of his extended family last December at the Arnos Vale Cricket Grounds, plans to return “hopefully very soon, not for cricket but to relax, meet more of my family, and really explore my roots”.