CARDIGAN Connor finally hung up his boots yesterday and in announcing his retirement from cricket, paid a warm tribute to his old friend and teammate Malcolm Marshall.

Connor has visited Marshall who is recovering from cancer surgery and said: "For 13 years he was like a big brother to me."

And Connor pinpointed his most treasured memory of his 14 years with Hampshire as the day they won the B&H Cup for the second time and Marshall was part of the victory.

Connor's announcement doesn't come completely out of lthe blue. His trouble-some knees effectively forced his retirement from championship cricket last season and he was only going to come back and play one-day cricket for Hampshire this season.

His retirement marks the end of an era, with only skipper Robin Smith remaining from the side that finished championship runners-up in 1985.

"We should have won the championship that year and that's one of the few regrets I have had in my career. The only other one was that I didn't come to Hampshire years earlier than I did."

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.