Edmund "Ed" Christopher Joyce (born 22 September 1978) is a former Irish cricketer who played for both the

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

national cricket teams. After beginning his career with

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbourin ...

, he moved to Sussex in 2009, before returning to Ireland to play for Leinster Lightning in the fledgling first-class competition, the Irish Inter-Provincial Championship. 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. 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. He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Ireland's first ever Test match, against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. On 24 May 2018, he announced his retirement from all professional cricket. In June 2019, Joyce was appointed as the interim head coach of the

Ireland women's cricket team The Ireland women's cricket team represents Ireland in international women's cricket. Cricket in Ireland is governed by Cricket Ireland and organised on an All-Ireland basis, meaning the Irish women's team represents both Northern Ireland and t ...

Early life

He was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, educated at St. Patrick's Primary School,

Bray, County Wicklow Bray ( ) is a coastal town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is situated about south of Dublin city centre on the east coast. It has a population of 32,600 making it the ninth largest urban area within Ireland (at the 2016 census). Bray is ...

and at

Presentation College, Bray Presentation College ( ga, Coláiste na Toirbhirte; colloquially known as Pres Bray) is a Catholic boys' secondary school established in 1921 by the Presentation Brothers in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. There are currently about 970 studen ...

, and studied economics at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

County career

Middlesex

Joyce made his

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 In mathematics and statistics, the arithmetic mean ( ) or arithmetic average, or just the ''mean'' or the ''average'' (when the context is clear), is the sum of a collection of numbers divided by the count of numbers in the collection. The colle ...

51 and scored four hundreds. Joyce replaced

Owais Shah Owais Alam Shah (born 22 October 1978) is a former England cricketer. A middle-order batsman, he played for Middlesex from 1995 to 2010 and Essex from 2011 to 2013 before announcing his retirement from first-class cricket. He played Twenty20 ...

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 " oycefelt 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". Despite his imminent departure, Middlesex included Joyce in their squad for the Stanford Super Series and the eventually-cancelled

Twenty20 Champions League The Champions League Twenty20, also referred to as the CLT20, was an annual international Twenty20 Cricket competition played between qualifying domestic teams from some major cricketing nations. The competition was launched in 2008 with the fi ...

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 The ICC Champions Trophy is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council. The 2013 tournament was intended to be the final edition of the Champions Trophy, but it was extended to 2017 due to ...

and in November 2009, he signed a new three-year contract with the county. Joyce suffered a unique dismissal in a 2009 Championship game against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. 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. He became Sussex captain on 31 July 2012, succeeding Michael Yardy. In October 2015, Joyce announced he would step down as captain of the Sussex team following their relegation from the County Championship Division One.

International career

Ireland: to 2005

Joyce played a number of matches for

in the

ICC Trophy The ICC World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the Cricket World Cup qualif ...

, 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 A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

(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 A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

, 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: 2006–2007

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 Ashes may refer to: *Ash, the solid remnants of fires. Media and entertainment Art * ''Ashes'' (Munch), an 1894 painting by Edvard Munch Film * ''The Ashes'' (film), a 1965 Polish film by director Andrzej Wajda * ''Ashes'' (1922 film), a ...

series, in place of Marcus Trescothick, who withdrew, suffering from a stress-related illness. This was a somewhat controversial decision as he was given preference over the more experienced

and Robert Key. Although he was not chosen for any of the

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

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 New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

. 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

century away from home in nineteen matches. Joyce was named

Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

for his performance, and the innings helped him earn a place in the squad for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...

. 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: 2011–2018

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. Joyce explained his choice to return to Irish colours: 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. 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. 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, and he was subsequently selected in Ireland's 15-man squad for the tournament. In May 2015 Joyce and fellow cricketer Tim Murtagh announced their retirement from T20 cricket (although Murtagh subsequently reversed his decision to retire from the format). In June 2015 Joyce scored 231 runs in the first innings against the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at ...

in the 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup at

Malahide Malahide ( ; ) is an affluent coastal settlement in Fingal, County Dublin, Ireland, situated north of Dublin city. It has a village centre surrounded by suburban housing estates, with a population of over 17,000. Malahide Castle dates from th ...

. It was the highest by an Ireland player in multi-day cricket and was the first double century scored by an Irish player on home soil.

Test cricket

In May 2018, he was named in a fourteen-man squad for Ireland's first ever Test match, which was played against Pakistan later the same month. He made his Test debut for Ireland on 11 May 2018. At 39 years and 231 days he was the oldest Test debutant this century, and the oldest since Omar Henry who was 40 years and 215 days when

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

resumed Test cricket after their imposed isolationism due to

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. Joyce faced the first delivery and scored the first run for Ireland in Test cricket. He also became the first batsman to be dismissed for Ireland, when he was out lbw, bowled by Mohammad Abbas. A week after the Test match, he retired from all forms of cricket.

International record

Family

Ed is the sixth-born of nine children of James "Jimmy" and Maureen Joyce, all of whom began their cricketing lives at Bray Cricket Club, now called North Wicklow. Five of the Joyce siblings have represented Ireland at cricket. Brothers Gus and Dominick played for the Irish men's team (the latter in three ODI matches), while twin sisters, Isobel and Cecelia, have represented the

Irish women Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

for the past decade. Brothers Johnny and Damian played club cricket in Dublin and Wicklow, though did not play professionally. His mother Maureen Joyce was a cricket scorer. She was also scorer in two WODIs in 2002 when New Zealand women toured to Netherlands and Ireland. Joyce's eldest sister, Helen Joyce, is an author who is best known for her work focusing on transgender issues.

References

External links

*
Profile by Gerard Siggins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Ed 1978 births Living people Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Dual international cricketers Cricketers from County Dublin England One Day International cricketers England Twenty20 International cricketers Ireland One Day International cricketers Ireland Test cricketers Ireland Twenty20 International cricketers Irish cricketers Leinster Lightning cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Middlesex cricketers People educated at Presentation College, Bray People from Bray, County Wicklow Sportspeople from County Wicklow Sussex cricketers Ed