Disappointed Joyce mulls future

Sussex batsman Ed Joyce has expressed disappointment at being overlooked for a spot in England's limited-overs side to South Africa after averaging over 60.00 in domestic one-dayers this summer. Joyce, who has played 17 one-day internationals for England, may have to return to his native Ireland to resume an international career if the ICC give him special clearance.

"If I am not going to get picked after this season, having had such a good year, it is hard to see when I will be picked," he said. "But maybe that is me being pessimistic. My priority is playing well for Sussex. But having said that, things can change very quickly and I have to keep telling myself that something could happen and I could suddenly be back in."

Just under a year ago, Joyce quit Middlesex and moved to Sussex, whom he is representing in the Champions League in India. His form for his new county was impressive during the 2009 season; he hit three one-day centuries and averaged 58 as Sussex won the Pro40 and finished runners-up in the Friends Provident Trophy.

Joyce has not been able to add to his England tally of 709 runs at 27.70, including a century at the SCG in early 2007 and two half-centuries in the last World Cup. He has not played for England since that disastrous campaign in the Caribbean.

"That's not baffling to me," he said. "It was just bad timing, I really believe that. It was the end of Duncan Fletcher's regime, and Michael Vaughan was coming to the end, too. I am associated with that sorry Ashes series, even though I didn't play in it. And I don't think people even really remember that we won the CB Series because we were pretty dreadful for the first few games.

"And then the World Cup happened, which was a bit of a disaster as well. The series I was involved in were not especially great for English cricket. I think a lot of people got tarnished by that. I'm not the only one: Liam Plunkett, Jamie Dalrymple and a few other guys who actually did reasonably well in their England careers and just haven't played since. It's just one of those things, it was unlucky. Maybe get tarnished with a brush you didn't deserve, but you've just got to live with that."

Sussex will play New South Wales in Delhi on October 11 and Joyce is likely to open. "Looking at their squad is a little bit intimidating, because there are a lot of Australian internationals in there, but we do know that they haven't played as much Twenty20 cricket as us, so we should have an advantage in that way."