OTD| Ed Joyce, who represented both England and Ireland in international cricket, was born in 1978

Ed Joyce was born on this day in 1978. The talented cricketer was one of the fewest players to have played for two different teams at the highest level. Ed played for both England and Ireland in international cricket. He played for Middlesex and Sussex in County cricket before making a move to Ireland. He then represented Leinster Lightning and had a big change in his career.

Joyce is claimed by many as arguably the greatest cricketer to have played for Ireland. He was a part of England’s squad during the Ashes 2006/07 and the ODI World Cup 2007. After his form went down, Ed made a move from England to Ireland. Joyce had the privilege to play for Ireland in its maiden Test match against Pakistan in 2018.

Ed retired from cricket in 2019 and has coached many teams since then including Ireland’s women’s team. His inputs were crucial in the growth of the Irish women. On the 13th of June 2006, Edward made his international debut and played for England in an ODI against Ireland. His only Test appearance was against Pakistan in 2018. Joyce’s last ODI was against Zimbabwe in March 2018.

In June 2006, Joyce made his T20I debut against Sri Lanka. He played his last T20I for Ireland against Netherlands in the T20 World Cup 2014 which turned out to be one of the greatest T20 matches ever. In the only Test he played, Joyce scored 47 runs. In ODIs, he played 78 matches and scored 2622 runs at an average of 38.00 including 6 hundreds and 15 fifty plus scores.

In T20Is, Joyce played 18 matches and scored 405 runs at an average of 33.75 including a best score of 78*. Joyce had a good record in FC cricket. He played 255 matches and scored 18461 runs at an average of 47.95 including 47 hundreds and 92 fifties. At times, he was handy as a bowler with his medium pace.