Re: Joyce, he's back in an Irish jersey

CRICKET: EMMET RIORDAN, who will be covering the World Cup for The Irish Timesfrom India, talks to Ireland's Ed Joyce about what he brings to the team after his experience with England in 2007

ON A sunny July 4th in 2005 the grounds of Stormont Castle were a relaxing place for a stroll. Down at the Civil Service Cricket Ground, though, the tension amongst the couple of hundred Irish cricket supporters had reached a crescendo.

A fresh-faced 18-year-old was walking back from the middle having scored four; Eoin Morgan’s departure, the fourth Irish wicket to fall with just 23 runs on the board chasing a target of 230 set by the United Arab Emirates. Ireland’s hopes of making it to a first Cricket World Cup were in serious danger.

Many in the crowd had witnessed the heartbreak of failed attempts to make it in the past, the losses to Kenya and Scotland in 1997 still a healing scar for those who witnessed them.

A couple of hours later Ed Joyce left the pitch alongside his great buddy Paul Mooney, the Middlesex left-hander, in a lather of sweat after scoring an unbeaten century to get Ireland over the line with one ball to spare. It’s no understatement to say it was the most important innings in the history of Irish cricket.

Roll on six years and Joyce is sitting in the offices of team sponsor RSA watching a highlight reel of Ireland’s Caribbean adventure four years ago: the epic tie against Zimbabwe; the stunning victory over Pakistan; the delirious joy in the stands among the supporters.

Of course Joyce played no part in it, having switched allegiance to England in a bid to fulfil his dream of playing Test cricket, a dream that would begin to unravel in the Caribbean.

He got off to a good start with two half-centuries in the group stages against Canada and Kenya, but when his off-stump was sent cartwheeling backwards by Ireland’s Boyd Rankin after he had scored just one, his place at the top of the England order was coming under pressure. He made 10 against Sri Lanka in his next game and would never play for England again.

Despite flourishing after a move from Lord’s to Sussex and being one of the outstanding one-day players in the English game, Joyce never got back into a changing England side and the 32-year-old from Bray will line up with Ireland this time around after the International Cricket Council relaxed their four-year stand-down period.

Joyce has moved on from his England experience and is delighted to have a chance to play for the country of his birth this time. He doesn’t have regrets.

“I made my peace pretty much straight after that tournament. Obviously I would have liked to play Test cricket and have had the chance to play in the England team for longer but it didn’t work out that way. I look at being here now and am kind of glad I’m here, so maybe it’s one of those things that was meant to be.”

Joyce still has fond memories of his first stint in a green jersey, with the innings against the UAE the highlight of the 50 caps he earned between 1997 and 2005.

“I still think that was one of my best innings just because of the situation. In terms of what it meant to the side getting through to the World Cup, it was probably one of the happiest I’ve ever been after an innings. I think that’s one of the things coming back into the side now is that I know I’ve contributed to the side getting to where it is even if I didn’t actually play in that World Cup for Ireland or the ones (Twenty20) they have played in since.”

Joyce has been welcomed back with open arms by an Ireland squad that has benefited both individually and collectively from his groundbreaking progress in the game. But not everyone agrees with the decision to let him switch back, with Nasser Hussain recently questioning the whole process. Joyce believes the former England captain’s comments were ill-informed but holds no grudge.

“I heard it at the time and I think Nasser’s wrong. I always think people who make comments like that haven’t thought about it. If he really thought about the vagaries of it then there’s no other decision that you could come to other than the ones I’ve made. I quite like him as a bloke and I’d hold nothing against him for saying it but I think if he actually thought about it he wouldn’t say that kind off thing.”

Joyce will have a chance to show Hussain and his former team-mates he is still a force to be reckoned with when Ireland meet England in Bangalore on March 2nd and he believes his game has improved from the last World Cup.

“I’m a much better one-day player than I was when I played for England. I look back and wish I’d known what I know now about the game, but hopefully that will work out in Ireland’s favour. If I can bring something in terms of calmness into the middle of the innings where, perhaps, it wasn’t there before that would be nice to offer.”

You sense he’ll offer that – and a lot more on his second coming.