Ed Joyce

If Ed goes, and Sussex don't deliver on these signings, then I fear for our future. Not one of our young batters has yet made a case for a place in the side, never mind at the top of the order

Easier said than done. Where do you find a "quality" batsman who can deliver you 1000 CC runs a season, a  la Joyce? There aren't many of them standing in the dole queue unwanted by their present counties...unless there is someone  Durham or Northants, the two most skint clubs in the country, want to unload from their wage bills?

Which is why it probably needs to be an overseas player, available for the whole season and prerferably with a backdoor qualifcation. Not like Cachopa, though. Hopefully more like Madsen!

Joyce will miss out on the Ireland trip to South Africa "after being diagnosed with a progressive knee injury which requires minor surgery." www.espncricinfo.com/ireland/content/story/1057441.html

That will certainly mean he won't play any more for Sussex this season, and depending on the nature of the injury it could be another factor in deciding his future. Any "progressive knee condition" at age 38 is not likely to be improved by a season of championship cricket, but he might prolong his career with more sporadic International appearances. 

Meanwhile in other news from Ireland it now seems that Toby Radford, who succeeded to the National Academy Manager job that Chris Adams took and then declined, has similarly decided for family reasons that he's better off staying on the mainland.www.espncricinfo.com/ireland/content/story/1056943.html

Whatever is going on with Cricket Ireland? Why does Performance Director Richard Holdsworth say "Clearly our experience in the few months of recruitment for this position has been a challenge, particularly in relocating. We shall look at the position again and have an in-depth review of our human resources around the Shapoorji Pallonji Academy in order to get to the right outcome." ? Don't they mention during the interview that the job is located in Malahide, Dublin?

Hhs,

Below is the answer. I don't blame Adams for turning down the position when the full job prospectus was never divulged.

www.cricketireland.ie/get-involved/development/shapoorji-pallonji-cricket-ireland-academy
www.cricketireland.ie/news/article/shapoorji-pallonji-cricket-ireland-academy-welcomes-eight-new-recruits

Not sure about this idea of him flying in from Dublin to play four day games, though. That's all 'a bit KP', if you know what I mean.

He's either a member of the squad and trains and practices with his team mates throughout the summer. Or he's not a member of the squad. For me there can't be any special 'guest star' status, even if he is still by far the side's best batsman. You either is. Or you isn't.

As to him keeping Sussex waiting, as captain he had to deal with the frustration of so many unfit players, from Prior and Hamilton-Brown to Amjad and Anyon, all of whom probably hung around on the payroll long after they should have bowed to the inevitable.  So if he's waiting to see how his operation goes before coming to a decsion, that seems thoroughly honourable on his part.