14 Facts about Ed Joyce - Blending cricket with poetry

14 Facts about Ed Joyce – Blending cricket with poetry: Edmund Christopher Joyce plays like a poetry in motion. His silken touch to the off-side sends the cherry rolling over the fence, while he has an elegant glance through the leg side for the other side. This Irish southpaw announced his arrival in style and made the cricketing world take notice of him. Ed is a delight to the fans all over the world.

Today on his 37th birthday, we list 14 Facts about Ed Joyce – Blending cricket with poetry:

1. Birth:

Ed Joyce was born on September 22, 1978 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.

2. Education:

Ed Joyce went to St. Patrick’s primary school, Bray, County Wicklow, and at Presentation College Bray, County Wicklow and Trinity College, Dublin.

3. Making it to Middlesex:

Ed Joyce made his Middlesex debut in 1999 and won the NBC Denis Compton Award in 2000. He has been a regular member of the first team since 2002, he averaged 51 and scored four hundreds in the year.

4. Captaincy call:

Ed Joyce replaced Owais Shah as acting county captain midway through the 2004 season, but was not appointed for the 2005 season. He captained the Middlesex team to victory in the 2008 Twenty20 Cup.

5. Dubious distinction:

Ed Joyce suffered a unique dismissal in a 2009 Championship game against Warwickshire. He swept a ball from Ant Botha straight into short-leg fielder Jonathan Trott’s pocket. The English fielder 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.

6. International debut:

Ed Joyce made his ODI debut vs England at Belfast, Jun 13, 2006. Joyce played a number of matches for Ireland in the ICC Trophy, averaging over 70 in the competition. He made his T20I debut vs Sri Lanka at Southampton on June 15, 2006.

7. Match winner:

His match winning performance came against Australia at the SCG on 2 February 2007. Opening the innings, Joyce scored a strokeful 107 from 142 balls, helping England amass 292-7, and became the first English cricketer to score a ODI century away from home in nineteen matches. He was named Man of the Match for his performance, and the innings helped him earn a place in the squad for the World Cup in the West Indies.

8. Cricket runs in the family:

Ed’s brothers Gus and Dominick have also played for the Irish men’s team (the latter has featured in three ODI matches), while his twin sisters, Isobel and Cecelia, have represented the Irish women for the past decade. In addition his mother, Maureen, acted as an official scorer for two women’s ODI matches against New Zealand in 2002. Another elder brother, John, is a successful chess player, ranked in the top 20 in Ireland and a former national Under-19 Champion.

9. Multi teams- one star:

For records, 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 World Cup. 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.

10. Part of history:

He scored a pleasant 32 run knock against England, a game which saw Ireland getting the better of England, with Kevin O’Brien scoring a historic century.

11. Major teams:

Ed Joyce is one of the few cricketers to represent more than one country. He played for Ireland and England apart from England Lions, Marylebone Cricket Club, Middlesex and Sussex.

12. Nicknames:

Ed Joyce is popularly called as Joycey, Spud and Piece.

13. Journey of tons:

Ed Joyce is the third cricketer to score centuries for two countries. He scored centuries for both England and Ireland.

Also Read – How does a player become eligible to play for another country?

14. Recent form:

Ed Joyce scored a well crafted 44 against Australia at Belfast on 27th August, 2015. He would like to continue the good form in the upcoming cricketing season.