CRICKET: Irishman Ed Joyce has been included in the 15-man England squad for their first ever match against Ireland next week and for a five-match one-day international series against Sri Lanka later in the month.
Joyce celebrated his call-up by scoring an unbeaten 154 for Middlesex against Yorkshire in a County Championship match at Southgate yesterday and it is thought likely he will make his debut for his adopted country against Ireland at Stormont next Tuesday.
Joyce gets his opportunity with several of England's first-choice one-day team injured and he is one of five uncapped players in the squad including Middlesex team-mate Jamie Dalrymple.
With a third Middlesex batsman, Andrew Strauss, having been named as captain in the absence of the injured Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff, the gap left behind at Lord's could present an opportunity for another talented Irishman, 19-year-old Dubliner Eoin Morgan, who has been threatening to break into the Middlesex team for two years.
He will play for Middlesex this Sunday against Surrey in the C&G Trophy thus ruling him out of Ireland's last two games in that competition and it is also likely he will play in the County Championship next week meaning he will have to pull out of the Ireland v England game.
It is possible that England coach Duncan Fletcher and selectors will give Joyce a chance at the top of the innings. He has been opening with a good level of success for Middlesex.
"Ed Joyce opened the batting for England A against West Indies - and did it very well - and is now doing it for Middlesex," said chairman of selectors David Graveney, " "So we are very happy to be in a position to give him a chance. He is a fine player and we have no doubt that he will do well at this level."
Ireland gained one-day international (ODI) status by qualifying for the 2007 World Cup at the ICC Trophy held in Belfast, Derry and Dublin last summer.
After pressure from the ICC as well as Vaughan himself, the England and Wales Cricket Board agreed to play a full ODI as a warm-up to their five-match series against Sri Lanka.
