Boost for Irish as Joyce returns to the crease
Joyce, who has been starring for Middlesex this season and is being touted as a possible in the England batting line-up for the Ashes series, trained with the Irish team yesterday and is included in a 14-man panel.
Citing the Scots as “one of our oldest and most traditional rivals,” team manager Roy Collins said last night that coach Adrian Birrell was keeping his cards very close to his chest and would not name his starting eleven until just before the toss.
“Ed Joyce was unable to play in the ICC Trophy semi-final against Canada at the weekend because of prior commitments, but he has since rejoined the Irish squad and is available to play against the Scots,” Collins said.
“He has been in tremendous form this year both for Ireland and Middlesex and is a very important member of our team.”
Joyce is available to be selected for England in the Ashes series as a result of residency regulations, but if he were selected, he would be lost to Ireland for five years.
That is not an immediate concern for the Irish management, however, as they focus on beating the Scots and securing a slot in Group One of the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies against Australia, South Africa and Holland.
If they lose, they go into Group Four against Pakistan, the West Indies and Zimbabwe.
Ahead of the final, the Irish management are focusing on the fact that their opening batsmen have not been performing well throughout this tournament and despite the four wicket semi-final win over Canada, they will be looking to the likes of Jeremy Bray and Eoin Morgan to rediscover their form.
“Some of our players have not been performing at anything close to their potential,” Collins said, “but hopefully they will see the final as being an opportunity to hit top form.”
Of the opposition he said that in the likes of Dougie Brown, Craig White and Gavin Hamilton, they had players who has established themselves on the county scene in England and, in White’s case, been capped for England.
“They have plenty of class and they have an advantage in that they qualified for the World Cup last time around and we believe they have improved because of that and also the fact they play in one-day competition against the English counties throughout the summer.
“But, if we play well we’re confident we can win. In all my years in the game, I have never experienced the buzz that is surrounding the final and the level of interest is huge.
“The bottom line though is that this is a final and we want to win it,” Collins said.
