Edmund Christopher Joyce (born 22 September 1978) is an Irish

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

coach and former cricketer who played for both the

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

national cricket teams. After beginning his career with

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, he moved to

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

in 2009, before returning to Ireland to play for

Leinster Lightning Leinster Lightning is an Ireland, Irish inter-provincial cricket team. They participate in the Inter-Provincial Championship, Inter-Provincial Cup and Inter-Provincial Trophy. The team is based in Dublin and is managed by Cricket Leinster. Hist ...

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 The 2006–07 cricket series between Australia national cricket team, Australia and England cricket team, England for The Ashes was played in Australia from 23 November 2006 to 5 January 2007. Australia won the series and regained the Ashes that ...

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, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. 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 is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, educated at St. Patrick's Primary School, Bray, County Wicklow and at Presentation College, Bray, and studied economics at

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

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 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 with Ben Hutton taking over. Joyce was acting captain for most of the 2008 season in the absence of the injured Ed Smith this included leading the Middlesex team to victory in the 2008 Twenty20 Cup. After this competition, the captaincy was handed to Shaun Udal whilst there was uncertainty around Joyce's long-term future at the club.

Sussex

It was announced on 3 November 2008 that Joyce would be leaving Middlesex to play for

. 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 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. Joyce suffered a unique dismissal in a 2009 Championship game against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

. He swept a ball from Ant Botha straight into short-leg fielder

Jonathan Trott Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott (born 22 April 1981) is a South African-born English former professional cricketer who played international cricket for the England cricket team and is the current head coach of the Afghanistan cricket team. Domestical ...

'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, 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 One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(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 Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

, 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 series, in place of

Marcus Trescothick Marcus Edward Trescothick (born 25 December 1975) is an English former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England cricket team, England in 76 Test cricket, Test matches and 123 One Day In ...

, who withdrew, suffering from a stress-related illness. This was a somewhat controversial decision as he was given preference over the more experienced Owais Shah and Rob 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

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he was chosen to play in the subsequent One-day International series following an injury to

Kevin Pietersen Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is a former England international cricketer. He is regarded as one of the greatest England batsmen to have played the game, and renowned for his competitive, and often controversial nature. He was a ri ...

. 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 () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

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. However, the highlight of the series for Joyce was the victory over

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 award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) 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 chose ...

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 name is ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. 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), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

in the 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup at

Malahide Malahide ( ; ) is an affluent coastal settlement in Fingal, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, situated north of Dublin city. It has a village centre surrounded by suburban housing estates, with a population of 18,608 as per the 2022 ...

. 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 Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

resumed Test cricket after their imposed isolationism due to

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

. 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

Coaching

In September 2019, Joyce was appointed as the head coach of

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 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 Irish cricketers England One Day International cricketers England Twenty20 International cricketers Ireland One Day International cricketers Ireland Test cricketers Ireland Twenty20 International cricketers Leinster Lightning cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Middlesex cricketers People educated at Presentation College, Bray Sportspeople from Bray, County Wicklow Sussex cricketers Ed Irish cricket coaches Coaches of the Ireland women's cricket team Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Naturalised sports competitors Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom