Isobel Joyce is the captain of the Irish cricket team which, last Saturday, won the T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in Thailand, earning them a place in next year's finals in India alongside the sport's big guns.
Joyce and her twin sister Cecelia hail from a famous Bray cricketing clan that has produced five Irish internationals, Ed, Gus and Dominick also playing for Ireland [Ed played for England too], the pair two of just three Irish women to win 100 caps for their country, their team-mate Clare Shillington the first to reach the mark.
Joyce, an all-rounder, made her debut for Ireland in 1999 when she was just 15, and has been an ever-present since. She and Cecelia have also won every domestic hockey honour with Railway Union, including the All-Ireland league title on three occasions. She studied journalism in college and worked as a sub-editor for a number of years before focusing full-time on sport, coaching cricket and hockey, teaching Zumba, an aerobic fitness programme set to Latin American dance, and working as a personal trainer.
Are you still on Cloud Nine?
I am. We’ve had some good days through the years, but that was definitely the biggest win that I’ve been part of.
You saw off Zimbabwe, China and the Dutch comfortably enough in your group, and then Scotland in the semi-finals, but the final against Bangladesh went to the very last ball. Was your heart
in your mouth?
It was! And when that happens, when it goes to the last over, the last ball, you kind of run through everything you could have done – if I hadn’t bowled that wide, if I’d stopped that run, all that. But we’d played really well so I was reconciled to whatever the result may be. If we’d lost we still could have held our heads high – and I don’t think Bangladesh could have done the same because they tried to do that Mankad on the last ball, which was below the belt. [‘Mankading’ is when a bowler runs out the non-striking batsman who has strayed out of his popping crease as the bowler runs in to deliver. It’s an entirely legal move, but, generally, is regarded as a touch sneaky and just not cricket. It’s named after the Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad who dismissed batsmen in just such a fashion back in the 1940s]
Both you and Cecelia finished in the top three in the tournament player rankings – not bad?
We were really happy. And it’s especially nice when you’re getting a bit older, when you’re putting in all that time, to find some form. And you see it, too, as a thank you to the people who support you. Cecelia works in a big law firm, Arthur Cox, and they’ve been so, so supportive of her, so it was brilliant for her to be out there doing really well.
You made your Irish debut at 15, huge changes since then?
Definitely. We even had to pay for our kit back then, it was notoriously bad. But everything has improved, especially the amount of training we put in now. And things like player welfare have come on so much too. I actually had a stress fracture when I was 17 from overplaying, but that just wouldn’t happen any more. Even the way we approach games is totally different, we wouldn’t have had any video analysis then, it just takes much more work and preparation to be able to compete at the highest level than it used to. We didn’t do gym programs in women’s sport that much, you did some running and that was about it – now it’s the gym three times a week. And your nutrition is key, whereas back then you’d never have been told what to eat. It’s a different world now.
The achievements of the Irish men’s team over the years earned them a lot of recognition, are you hopeful the women’s team will start being acknowledged in a similar way?
Well, the thing I hope for more than anything is that it will be easier for the girls coming through, that when they leave school or college or whatever that they don’t have to choose between playing cricket and leading a normal life. When the men first got contracts after their success, that support allowed them focus on their cricket. That’s the road we have to go down too. We’re the only team in the top ten in the world that is not professional
Your family is steeped in cricket, when you all get together is it all you talk about?
No! There are nine children in the family, five have played for Ireland, but we have two other sisters who don't play cricket – and one who hates sport altogether. She works for The Economist, lived in Brazil for a while, so she's definitely the most impressive person in our family! [Helen Joyce is the editor of The Economist's international section]. There's a good bit of talk about cricket, but there's talk about lots of other things too. My Dad's an actuary, Helen is a mathematician, so….
Gawd. Moving on. You got back from Thailand on Monday morning and you were out coaching schools’ hockey in the tail end of Storm Desmond on Monday evening – you’re fond of sport, aren’t you?
I am, love it! It’s given me so much, I just want to give something back. And if our success in Thailand can lead to opportunities opening for the younger players coming through, that would be everything.
