12:00pm Wednesday 17th February 2010
By Bruce Talbot
Sussex opener Ed Joyce will miss the start of the new season as he recovers from major hip surgery.
The county do not expect the 30-year-old to play until the end of May at the earliest as he recovers from an operation in November to relieve an impingement in his right hip.
Joyce’s absence is a blow to Sussex’s hopes of mounting an early Championship promotion challenge and maintaining their status as the best one-day side in the country.
He had an outstanding debut season, scoring 941 one-day runs and just missing out on 1,000 in four-day cricket after injury forced him to miss Sussex’s last two Championship games.
Joyce began his rehabilitation in January and his comeback is pencilled in for May 24. It means he would miss seven Championship games and the first five matches of Sussex’s Pro40 defence.
Coach Mark Robinson said: “Ed has had a major operation and the nature of his injury is such that he will always feel better than he actually is.
“There is a danger that he could have come back too early and that would have meant more surgery and we obviously cannot afford to risk that.”
Robinson has not ruled out signing a replacement batsman, although that depends on the early-season availability of England pair Matt Prior and Luke Wright as well as the costs involved.
He added: “We have Michael Thornely and Joe Gatting and two youngsters in Matt Machan and Luke Wells. Michael and Joe will be itching for an opportunity.
“Another option is to sign someone but there are a lot of things involved. We expect Luke and Matt might also be involved but there is also the issue of who is available and whether we can afford it.”
A further complication for Sussex’s early-season planning could arise if Yasir Arafat is chosen for Pakistan’s Twenty20 World Cup squad.
Arafat, who is back at Hove for a third stint as overseas player this season, is in Pakistan’s squad for this week’s Twenty20 games against England in Dubai, eight months after he last played for his country.
The World Cup in West Indies takes place between April 30 and May 16 but with a pre-tournament training camp Arafat would effectively be out of Sussex’s plans for a month.
If Sussex do go for a short-term overseas replacement they may opt for a batsman to cover Joyce’s absence.
Robinson said: “It is impossible to guage the scenario. We can’t do much until Pakistan announce their squad. He’s back in for this tournament but there is no Rana Naved and Mohammad Asif wasn’t allowed to play because he couldn’t get a work permit so who knows whether Yas will go to the World Cup.
“It will be a bit of a scramble if he does go, getting people fixed up with work permits but we can’t do anything until we know if he is going or not.”
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