ED JOYCE, A player widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers Ireland has ever produced, features on this week’s episode of The Slog Sweep.
The 35-year-old covered a considerable range of topics on the show, including his much-discussed switch from representing England to Ireland.
Joyce competed several times for England and was even a member of their squad for the 2007 World Cup, before dropping down the selection pecking order.
The Dubliner ultimately received special dispensation from the International Cricket Council to switch his allegiance to Ireland, and went on to represent his country at the 2011 World Cup.
Yet despite initially turning out for England, Joyce says his intention was always to represent his country of birth.
“I always would have preferred just to have played for Ireland, so it was always in the back of my mind to do it,” he said. “I had played a bit for England, and I had enjoyed some of it, not all of it. I felt I was still playing well enough to come back and make a difference to the Ireland team and that was the main reason [for coming back].
“I made a move to Sussex down from Middlesex — I felt it had gotten very stale there. One of the reasons for the move was I wanted to get back playing international cricket. And that didn’t happen with England.”
In addition, after achieving considerable success since his big switch, Joyce ultimately has no regrets about the decision.
“Looking back, it’s actually been quite a good thing to be playing for Ireland, it feels much more comfortable. It’s where I want to be, it’s what I want to do.
“There’s a thought in my head of playing a few more years of county cricket and finishing playing for Ireland, but only if that’s an option. I’d love to go down that route.
“When I made my decision to play for England and when Eoin [Morgan] did as well to a certain degree, Ireland even though they had had a little bit of success, still didn’t have the kudos and the fixtures and the contracts from a career point of view that are in place now.
“So you’ve got new players like George Dockerell and those guys have great options now. They can play club cricket, provincial cricket, they can have a good career and play lots of games and get kudos and all that sort of stuff.”
He’s not as disappointed as some on relation to how far off they are? They are miles off. No offence to Munster but they are an average,though very gutsy and committed side,and they have hammers Leinster twice in a row now. I do agree that they haven’t had any continuity with combinations,especially from 9-13,and hopefully when the likes of OBrien, Healy, Moore, Teo, McFadden etc come back then there will be a big improvement.
I must take the opportunity to praise Matt O’Connor for the huge improvement in Guinness Pro12 teams. Ever since he arrived at Leinster, every other team has greatly improved. Teams, that two years ago were almost brushed aside by Leinster, have now reached the heights that Leinster once inhabited alone.
Treviso have improved, Munster have improved, Edinburgh have improved, Scarlets have improved, Dragons have improved, Zebra have improved, Connacht (brilliant tonight, by the way) have improved..
In fact, they have all improved so much that Leinster has great difficulty taking on any of them.
By extension, Wasps and Harlequins have shown just how brilliant they are too due to you Matt.
I can hardly wait to see how much Castres get better when they arrive at the RDS soon. They will build statues in your image all over the town.
Matt, you have done European rugby a great service. They have all reached and surpassed Leinster this season thanks to your input at Leinster and everywhere else.
Thank you Matt and Happy New year!.
(and also to Mr Caputo, the news paper seller. Your influence on all other teams has been exceptional)