November 25, 1989 – Kadeem Idaree Travorn Phillip was born to Conliffe Phillip (Liberta)and Denyse Phillip nee Airall (Pigotts).
Kadeem attended the Liberta Primary and All Saints Secondary Schools.
Kadeem’s love for cricket was fostered very early. His dad shared that Kadeem’s love for the sport as a toddler was such that he would go to sleep with his bat, which would also be the first thing he sought once he was awake.
Former West Indies cricketer and current president of Liberta Sports Club (Liberta SC), Kenneth ‘Flipper’ Benjamin, offered some insight into Kadeem’s cricket career. Kadeem moved from village cricket scrimmages to being a member of the Liberta SC Under 13 cricket team in the early 2000’s. At that time the senior team was struggling due to the loss of many players. Under the then club president, Denmore Roberts, the young players which included Kadeem, Rakeem Cornwall and Avier Christian were called up into the senior team playing with the few seniors including Kenny himself. They developed overtime, blossoming into the dominant force that became the leading national cricket club.
Kadeems’s all-round ability, left-handed bat and left-hand orthodox spin, resulted in his selection for his school team, the All Saints Secondary, his club the Liberta SC in all competitions held by the Antigua Barbuda Cricket Association and the Cool & Smooth T20 Explosion. He earned selection to play for Antigua and Barbuda and was called up for a brief stint with the Leewards Islands.
As a member of the Liberta SC, Kadeem had to be part of the pitch preparations. Initially, this was avoided whenever possible. The arrival of a guest player Oneal Levy with whom Kadeem became good friends served to increase the time Kadeem spent on pitch preparation. Levy’s specific tasks with the Club included assisting Kenny with pitch preparations and Kadeem became more involved by association. Whenever Kenny travelled, Kadeem was a part of the team under Levy to prepare the Falmouth Harbour grounds, the Liberta SC home grounds at that time.
In 2008, during the Stanford T20 Super Series, the Falmouth Harbour Cricket Ground was pressed into service as a practice venue. Kadeem was one of the Club members who prepared the pitch. The team that used the grounds gave high praise for the pitch quality resulting in Liberta SC being paid. In turn, the three, including Kadeem were paid EC$1,000.00 each, an excellent motivation which strengthened the interest in another aspect of cricket pitch preparation.
Kadeem’s interest in pitch development continued and he grew in technical competence under the team at the Liberta SC. In 2015, he took up the opportunity to join the general grounds staff at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium and used the opportunity to further strengthen his knowledge while working with Anthony Merrick, the ground’s Curator.
The renovations on and off the field at the Coolidge Cricket Grounds (CCG) in 2017 opened an opportunity for Kadeem to join the grounds staff there. Within a year he was promoted to Assistant Curator at the facility, a position he holds presently.
Kadeem’s commitment to his profession has received favourable commendations from others knowledgeable in the craft. Roland Holder, Senior Manager Operations at Cricket West Indies and former WI cricketer stated “Kadeem is the Assistant Head Curator at CCG. A great person to work with as he understands what needs to be done to the pitch to get the best out of it …. this comes from his experience as a former player to now Assistant Curator.
Kenneth Benjamin speaks very highly of Kadeem’s commitment to his duties. He confidently leaves Kadeem in charge of cricket curator duties at Ball Beef, Liberta SC whenever he travels. Kenneth, who has worked in several countries as a cricket curator himself, ranks Kadeem among the top three (3) cricket curators on Antigua and Barbuda.
Kadeem is well on the way in his career path in the game he loves and is still very much a part of, cricket.