A bowling allrounder, Andre Adams added a touch of dashing to New Zealand's batting armoury in the one-day format with his hard-hitting skills. However, he struggled to make a consistent impact with his bowling on the international stage and has not played an ODI since early 2007. He debuted at the highest level for New Zealand in March 2002, but a bout of back injuries on the West Indies tour of 2002 allowed Jacob Oram to move ahead of him in the pecking order, limiting him to one Test. Following that, question marks were raised about his attitude. He played in the 2003 World Cup, but soon lost his place again and was resigned to a life in the wilderness until he received a very late call-up to New Zealand's one-day squad in England towards the end of the 2004 NatWest Series. He didn't end up playing, but later signed with Essex for the remainder of the summer, where he stayed for the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

He had a productive 2006-07 domestic season for Auckland, claiming 32 wickets at 18.78 in New Zealand's domestic first-class State Championship and scoring 318 runs at 39.75. However, this was overshadowed by his one-month suspension for grabbing and shaking the helmet of Central Districts batsman Bevan Griggs. Along the way, Adams was recalled for three ODIs against Sri Lanka in December but was overlooked for the World Cup and lost his national contract in May 2007. He was overlooked again the following season, despite impressive performances in the State Championship, and the frustration prompted him to sign a two-year contract with the now defunct Indian Cricket League.

In 2007, Adams signed with English county Nottinghamshire, and has remained with the club since. He had a fine 2011 County Championship, topping the bowling charts for Notts, with 67 wickets from 16 matches at 22.61, placing him third on the season's overall bowling table. He was a part of the Auckland side that won the New Zealand's domestic one-day cup and Twenty20 tournament in 2010-11, and travelled with the team in September to India for the Champions League T20.

Lynn McConnell September 2011