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| Commitment Ed Joyce will wear the green of Ireland again for the first time in five years in a competitive match today. Sussex's batsman is uniquely placed to advise his team-mates, as he played with Middlesex colleagues Andrew Strauss, Steve Finn and Eoin Morgan before Matt Prior, Luke Wright and Michael Yardy became his team-mates. He also switched international allegiance from Ireland to England, playing just over thirty One-Day Internationals (ODIs). He never made the breakthrough into Test Match cricket and slipped out of contention for ODIs too. Joyce made the decision to ask the International Cricket Council (ICC) to allow him to change his allegiance back to Ireland. It was fast tracked, allowing him to represent Ireland again in the World Cup, but expectations are high. Ireland made it to the second stage at Pakistan's expense in the West Indies four years ago. “I’ve thrown my hat in with Ireland, being an Irishman, so I just came over and played for England and as I’ve always said before I wouldn’t give those England memories up for anything, but I feel my future is with Ireland,” Joyce told Empower-Sport Magazine. “They’re an improving cricketing nation and I would like to be a part of that improvement, so hopefully I’ve got five or six years playing for them and do good things for them in the World Cup and what not.” Patriotism Joyce knows that his decision puts him in a unique position. He gets a ribbing from both English and Irish players. He takes that in his stride. “Personal ambitions is just to get back playing for Ireland,” he told us last year. “Obviously I’ve thrown my hat back in the ring for them and I can’t wait to get back playing for the country of my birth, you know obviously a patriotic Irishman, so my ambition is to try and play in this next 50-over World Cup in Asia and perform well and help the team improve. That’s basically as simple as that.” So where does he see Irish cricket going? Test Matches, perhaps? “I would think it’s reasonably far away,” he said. “I think ODI status is much more easily achieved, because first of all, there’s no first class structure in Ireland. There’s probably not the playing numbers – the strength in depth that you’d need to support a first class structure, so it’s probably a while away there. I think realistically they believe that as well, but I do believe that there are twenty-five players that you can form a good squad of one-day players and twenty/20 players. I think the talent’s definitely there; it’s just a matter of opportunity now.” |
