Ed Joyce

Ed Joyce

Personal information
Full name	Edmund Christopher Joyce
Born	(1978-09-22) 22 September 1978 Dublin, Ireland
Nickname	Joycey, Spud, Piece
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Batting style	Left-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm medium
International information
National side	England Ireland
ODI debut (cap 193)	13 June 2006  England v Ireland
Last ODI	8 September 2013  Ireland v Scotland
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1999–2008	Middlesex
2009–present	Sussex (squad no. 24)
Career statistics
Competition ODI T20I FC LA Matches 39 13 200 248 Runs scored 1,252 262 13,918 8,047 Batting average 34.77 32.75 46.08 38.31 100s/50s 2/8 0/1 31/78 13/48 Top score 116* 78* 211 146 Balls bowled – – 1,287 264 Wickets – – 11 6 Bowling average – – 93.18 51.50 5 wickets in innings – – 0 0 10 wickets in match n/a n/a 0 n/a Best bowling – – 2/34 2/10 Catches/stumpings 11/– 1/– 175/– 83/–
Source: CricketArchive, 13 December 2013

Edmund Christopher Joyce (born 22 September 1978) is an Irish^[1] cricketer who has played for both the Irish and English national cricket teams. After beginning his career with Middlesex, he moved to Sussex in 2009. A left-handed batsman and occasional right-arm bowler of medium pace, Joyce is widely regarded as one of the best cricketers produced by Ireland.^[2] After qualifying to play for England, Joyce was a member of the squad in the 2006–07 Ashes series and 2007 World Cup. Since dropping down the pecking order for selection with England Joyce got special dispensation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) to play for Ireland in the 2011 World Cup.^[3]

Early life

Joyce was born in Dublin and educated at Aravon school, Bray, County Wicklow, and at Presentation College Bray, County Wicklow and Trinity College, Dublin.

County career

Middlesex

Joyce made his Middlesex debut in 1999 and won the NBC Denis Compton Award in 2000. He has been a regular member of the first team since 2002, in which year he averaged 51 and scored four hundreds. Joyce replaced Owais Shah as acting county captain midway through the 2004 season, but was not appointed for the 2005 season.

Joyce captained the Middlesex team to victory in the 2008 Twenty20 Cup. After this competition, the captaincy was handed to Shaun Udal, and later it became apparent that the player's future at Middlesex was uncertain as his current contract was expiring and he had not agreed to sign an extension.

Sussex

It was announced on 3 November 2008 that Joyce would be leaving Middlesex to play for Sussex. Vinny Codrington, Middlesex's chief executive, said "[Joyce] felt he needed a fresh challenge. He felt moving counties would help him rediscover the form that got him into the England side a couple of years ago... He was always one of the first names on the team-sheet and he has been outstanding and undoubtedly we're going to miss him".^[7] Despite his imminent departure, Middlesex included Joyce in their squad for the Stanford Super Series and the eventually-cancelled Twenty20 Champions League as a gesture of gratitude for his influence in winning the Twenty20 Cup.

A strong first season for Sussex, with three centuries, ensured Joyce remained on the fringes of England selection, being named in the provisional England squad for the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy and in November 2009, he signed a new three-year contract with the county.^[8]

Joyce suffered a unique dismissal in a 2009 Championship game against Warwickshire. He swept a ball from Ant Botha straight into short-leg fielder Jonathan Trott's pocket. Trott had turned his back and leapt out of the way of the ball; he was stunned to find the ball lodged in his right pocket.^[9] He became Sussex captain on 31 July 2012, succeeding Michael Yardy.^[10]

International career

Ireland: to 2005

Joyce played a number of matches for Ireland in the ICC Trophy, averaging over 70 in the competition, but in July 2005 qualified to play for England by virtue of his residency there. In October 2005, Joyce was selected for the England cricket academy and gained a spot in the England "A" squad to tour the West Indies in Spring 2006. In June 2006 he was selected in the England One Day International (ODI) squad for the series with Sri Lanka. He made his England ODI debut against Ireland in Stormont Park, Belfast in June 2006. The Irish team included his younger brother, Dominick. Two days later, he represented England in his first Twenty20 International, but sprained his ankle and was out injured for four weeks. He made his return for Middlesex at Edgbaston on 14 July 2006, in the County Championship against Warwickshire, scoring a career-best 211 in the first innings.

England: 2006-2010

On 15 November 2006, Joyce was selected by England's chairman of selectors, David Graveney, to be in the Test squad for the 2006/2007 Ashes series, in place of Marcus Trescothick, who withdrew from the party and returned home suffering from a stress-related illness. This was a somewhat controversial decision as he was given preference over the more experienced Owais Shah and Robert Key.^[11]

Although he was not chosen for any of the Tests against Australia he was chosen to play in the subsequent One-day International series following an injury to Kevin Pietersen. He totalled 288 runs in nine matches at an average of 32.00, including his maiden half-century in the losing run-chase against New Zealand at Perth. However, the highlight of the series for Joyce was the victory over Australia at the SCG on 2 February 2007. Opening the innings, Joyce scored a match-winning 107 from 142 balls, helping England amass 292-7, and became the first English cricketer to score a One Day International century away from home in nineteen matches.^[12] Joyce was named Man of the Match for his performance, and the innings helped him earn a place in the squad for the World Cup in the West Indies.

During the 2007 World Cup, Joyce made fifties against the non-Test nations of Canada and Kenya, but made a duck against New Zealand in the first group game and 1 against his native Ireland as well as dropping a catch in the first Super Eight game.

Ireland: 2011-present

While he was scoring heavily for Sussex in 2009, Joyce harboured hopes of breaking back into the England team. However, he was overlooked and by March 2010 was considering representing Ireland again.^[13] Joyce explained his choice to return to Irish colours:

When I made the decision in 2001 to try and play for England, it was with a view to trying to play Test cricket which is the pinnacle of the game and which of course Ireland doesn't play. While I strongly believe I'm good enough to play Test cricket for England, I've taken the decision now to try and play for Ireland again. There are a few reasons for this, with the most obvious being that I'm a born and bred Irishman. Secondly, I feel I have a lot to offer to Irish cricket. I had a very successful 2009 with Sussex winning the Most Valuable Player award for the Friends Provident trophy and also two winners medals in theTwenty20 Cup and Nat West Pro40 competition. I feel I'm playing the best cricket of my career and would like to bring this form with me to help Ireland be even more successful on the world stage, a success which I am committed to running in tandem with my Sussex career, in the same way that other Irish players have satisfied club and country commitments really well.

—Ed Joyce, May 2010^[14]

Under normal circumstances it takes four years to qualify to play for a country; having played for England at the 2007 World Cup in April 2007, Joyce was set to miss playing for Ireland in the 2011 tournament, taking place in February.^[15] In October it was announced that Joyce and former New Zealand international Hamish Marshall would tour India with Ireland; it was hoped that it would assist their integration into the team in the event the ICC allowed them to play for Ireland in ODIs.^[16] In November 2010, the ICC announced that Joyce's qualification period would be shortened by the ICC and that he would be allowed to play for Ireland at the World Cup,^[15] and he was subsequently selected in Ireland's 15-man squad for the tournament.^[17]

International record

Family

Clearly a sporting family of repute, Joyce's brothers Gus (Augustine) and Dominick have also played for the Irish men's team (the latter in three ODI matches), while his twin sisters, Isobel and Cecelia, have represented the Irish women for the past decade.^[18] In addition his mother, Maureen, acted as an official scorer for two women's ODI matches against New Zealand in 2002. Another elder brother, John, is a successful chess player, ranked in the top 20 in Ireland and a former national Under-19 Champion.

See also

• List of cricketers who have played for more than one international team

References and notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ed Joyce.

• Player profile: Ed Joyce from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: Ed Joyce from CricketArchive
• Middlesex County Cricket Club
• Profile by Gerard Siggins

v t e England squad – 2007 Cricket World Cup 5 Collingwood 7 Bell 9 Anderson 11 Flintoff 14 Strauss 17 Plunkett 18 Lewis 19 Mahmood 24 Pietersen 34 Dalrymple 36 Joyce 39 Broad 42 Bopara 46 Panesar 47 Nixon 99 Vaughan Coach: Fletcher Stuart Broad was called up to replace Jon Lewis, who had to return home due to family problems