Rutherford thinks Joyce has a touch of class

As a European Union passport-holder, he qualifies to play for Middlesex as a non-overseas player.

There is the option, however, to serve a four-year qualification period that would eventually make him eligible for England, but he must first commit himself in writing and turn his back on Ireland for good.

For most first-class cricketers, the desire to play at the highest possible level - both in quality and financially - would far outweigh any counter-argument.

Joyce, however, is an Irishman through and through.

"I honestly don't know which way I'll go," he said. "If we had got through to the World Cup I would obviously have played for Ireland, but we played so badly in Toronto that we didn't make it.

"I've been 50-50 for a while. I've definitely got national leanings, but I have to consider my career.

"I'll give it a lot of thought will make the decision in the next little while. There's a lot of pressure coming from home to stay committed to Ireland.

Patriotic

"Ken Rutherford suggested that I give England a bash if the World Cup didn't work out, which it hasn't.

"But I'm Irish and I want to play for them. A couple of the lads back home jokingly said that if I ever played for England they'd never speak to me again."

Before thoughts of Test cricket, however, Joyce first has to cement his place in the Middlesex team which, for reasons of university commitments, he has been unable to do so far.

Ireland took on the Australians last summer

"There are probably nine or 10 guys competing for six batting spots, so it's up in the air if I even get into the side at the start of the year.

"The ideal thing would be that I play the first Championship game because once you're in they usually give you three or four games to get acclimatised. If you do well then you're pretty well set.

"There's a university match first and it's up to me to look good pre-season in Jersey. It will be my first pre-season trip. They could have chosen somewhere warmer; Malta perhaps."

Then again, Siberia would have been a more suitable punishment so badly did the players let themselves down in the last third of the season.

Leaders of Division Two from April to August, Middlesex lost three of their last five Championship matches - two of them before Joyce's return - and eventually finished fifth.

"The defeat to Hampshire was the big downer," said Joyce. "Till then we were high as a kite.

"This year there's the expectation, not just the hope, that we'll be going up."