Joyce eyes England recall

Ed Joyce has made one ton for England after starting internationally with Ireland

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Ed Joyce has revealed the chance to fight his way back into the England set-up was a key factor in his decision to join Sussex.

The Middlesex batsman will represent his county for the last time in the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League in India before moving to Hove for the 2009 season.

Joyce has played in 17 one-day internationals for England but has not been involved since the 2007 World Cup defeat to Sri Lanka.

The Dublin-born left-hander says he firmly believes that a change of county can help him return to the international fold and could even help him realise his dream of playing Test cricket.

“I just feel like my last few years at Middlesex have gone a little bit stale and I haven’t been playing the cricket that I want to,” Joyce told ecb.co.uk.

“I’m hoping that the move down there and a change of management and a change of ethos and a change of scenery will help me to do that.”

Joyce acknowledges that his time at Lord’s has been enjoyable and he hopes to go out on a high by adding to the Twenty20 Cup win over Kent Spitfires at the Rose Bowl in July.

“It’s huge, I’ve been a Middlesex player since ‘97 and made my first-team debut in ‘99 so that’s nine years of playing for the same club,” he added.

“I’ve made some huge friends here and a piece of my heart will always be at Middlesex, so it would be nice to go out on a bit of a high and there’s no better place than the first ever Champions League to do that.”

Joyce states that although he still holds England ambition, he believes he can help newly-appointed Sussex captain Mike Yardy add to the south-coast county’s recent trophy haul.

“I hope that I can get back to getting big runs in four-day cricket that I was known for a few years ago,” he added.

Joyce was part of the Middlesex Crusaders side which lifted the Twenty20 Cup after beating Kent

“I’ve got too many scores in the fifties in the last few years and I want to get back to getting big hundreds.

“But I also want to be helping Sussex to win trophies - that’s the whole point of the move. To try and help Sussex do well but also try and get big runs myself and back in the hat for England selection.

“England certainly isn’t the sole reason, but playing for England is the whole point of playing county cricket in my opinion.

“You try and get to the highest level you can get to and obviously I’ve had a taste of that and want to get back to it.

“Over the years I’ve seen myself more as a four-day player, so the ultimate ambition when I decided to try and play for England was to play Test cricket, if I’m being honest.

“I’d like to try and see what I could do (in Test cricket). That’s probably my strongest suit.

“Hopefully I can get 1,500-1,600 runs next year and be up the top of the averages in county cricket, put my name back in to get back in the England A side. If I do well there, I could get back in (the England team).

“But obviously there are a lot of good players in the England side at the moment and the Test side are playing pretty well, so it’s not going to be easy.

“But you’ve got to keep trying.”