Cricket News: Irishman Ed Joyce has been included in the 25-man England squad for this summer's international season, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have announced.
The squad consists of the 12 players on central ECB contracts together with 13 non-contracted players, including Joyce, and the selection shows just how close the former Dublin University, Merrion and Ireland batsman is to full England honours.
Joyce is one of five players included in the squad who did not tour with the full side during the winter but who represented England A against the Sri Lankans earlier this month, the others being Rikki Clarke, Stuart Broad, Jon Lewis and Chris Read.
This is the second year of this development squad, and head coach Duncan Fletcher will be able to withdraw players included in the squad from domestic cricket at his discretion.
The ECB say, however, that it is not anticipated that this will lead to a significant reduction in the amount of county cricket played by non-contracted players such as Middlesex left-hander Joyce.
After satisfying a four-year residency period, Joyce is now eligible for England despite having played for Ireland in last year's ICC Trophy.
He toured the West Indies earlier this year with the England Academy side and played in that England A match against the touring Sri Lankans at Worcester.
Chairman of selectors David Graveney said: "The development squad enables the England head coach, working with his support staff and the national academy staff, to monitor more closely the development of international players and better prepare them for the demands of the international game.
"It was a very difficult exercise for the selectors to remain within the limit of 25 players, and there are a number of additional players who were very close to inclusion who we will also be monitoring very closely.
"All the selectors are unanimous that the development squad must not be viewed as a closed shop, and players outside of the squad whose form merits the attention of the selectors will continue to be considered for England in the usual way."
ENGLAND DEVELOPMENT SQUAD (2006): Michael Vaughan* (Yorkshire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell* (Warwickshire), Ian Blackwell (Somerset), Stuart Broad (Leicestershire), Rikki Clarke (Surrey), Paul Collingwood* (Durham), Alastair Cook (Essex), Andrew Flintoff* (Lancashire), Ashley Giles* (Warwickshire), Stephen Harmison* (Durham), Matthew Hoggard* (Yorkshire), Geraint Jones* (Kent), Simon Jones* (Glamorgan), Ed Joyce (Middlesex), Jon Lewis (Gloucestershire), Alex Loudon (Warwickshire), Sajid Mahmood (Lancashire), Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire), Kevin Pietersen* (Hampshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Chris Read (Nottinghamshire), Owais Shah (Middlesex), Andrew Strauss* (Middlesex), Marcus Trescothick* (Somerset).
*denotes those 12 players currently in receipt of 12-month ECB contracts, which run from October 1st 2005 to September 30th 2006.
