Parliamentary Secretary for Sports in Anguilla and former Hampshire County professional cricketer, Mr. Cardigan Connor, is in England for a few days. He is there to formally introduce Dimitri Adams to the cricket club where he (young Adams) will be a player, for the next three or four years, while studying for a Bachelor’s de gree in Business Administration at Southampton University.
Adams, who excelled in local and regional cricket at a young age, has been awarded a sports scholarship by Mr. John Kerr and his late wife, Theresa Kerr, an English couple who were both regular visitors to Anguilla and fell in love with the island and its people.
A few days before his departure, Mr. Connor told The Anguilian: “I will leave Anguilla on Tuesday, September 20, and will arrive in England the following day, Wednesday. I will travel to Manchester to meet up with John Kerr whose wife was responsible for the scholarship for Dimitri Adams. I will then meet up with Dimitri and his father, Alex Adams, at Heathrow Airport and take them down to Hampshire where I will introduce Dimitri to the authorities and the Hampshire Cricket Club. From there he will go on to Southampton University.”
Mr. Connor added: “For me it is important that I assist by thanking the sponsors for providing the scholarship for Dimitri Adams, and also by helping him to settle in at Hampshire.”
Mr. Connor is no stranger to Hampshire Cricket Club. “I played at Hampshire from 1984 to 1999. Having played for one club over those years, there is a good deal of loyalty on both sides,” he stated. “They were good to me. By recommending Hampshire to Dimitri, I know that he will be well looked after. I was up there earlier this year when I took a trip with Minister Evans McNiel Rogers and Minister Cora Richardson-Hodge. I had a chance to go down to Hampshire and introduced Mr. Rogers to the Chairman, Rod Bransgrove, and the Minister had an opportunity to see exactly what facilities Dimitri will be having at Hampshire.
Connor said Dimitri had opportunities to study in the United States but being able to play cricket at Hampshire, and to be part of the cricket club there, was of much attraction to him. The opportunity to study at the nearby Southampton University was also an attractive one for him. Connor, who, for a number of years served as Cricket Development Officer in Anguilla, following his return from England and Australia, was instrumental in encouraging Dimitri in developing his interest in cricket.
