Joyce and O’Brien eye Test swansong

CRICKET

ED JOYCE and Niall O’Brien know that the next four days in Greater Noida could hold the key to whether they end their illustrious careers with a Test cap, as Ireland prepare to take on Afghanistan in a make-or-break Inter-Continental Cup match in the Delhi suburb.

The International Cricket Council have promised the winners of the league-format competition a chance to take the ‘Test Challenge’ – a series of games against the lowest-ranked Full Member to determine whether they join the global big guns.

While moves are afoot elsewhere to promote Ireland and Afghanistan to the top table, possibly before the IC Cup round robin ends in October, as things stand the Test Challenge is the only guaranteed pathway for 38-year-old Joyce and O’Brien (35).

No-one deserves a Test cap more than Joyce, who played white-ball matches for England but was never granted the chance to showcase his sublime talent on the five-day stage.

Wicketkeeper O’Brien would also relish the chance to end his career on the highest of highs.

IRELAND (from): Porterfield, Stirling, Joyce, Anderson, N O’Brien, Balbirnie, Wilson, Mulder, Dockrell, Murtagh, Chase, Young, McCarthy.

BOXING

THE Boxing Union of Ireland (BUI), the governing body for professional boxing in this country, has cancelled Saturday’s promotion at Dublin’s National Stadium.

BUI president Mel Christle confirmed yesterday that the promoters, It’s A-Bout Boxing Ireland, have been informed that the BUI will not authorise the 13-bout card because of “failure to comply with certain terms and conditions”.

“The promoter was notified that the BUI was withdrawing its authorisation. We are not in the business of putting the health and financial welfare of boxers at risk,” said a clearly exasperated Christle.

Christle added that there was no chance that the matter can be resolved and that he’s not going “to drift between now and Saturday”.

NFL

LAS VEGAS will be home to an NFL franchise after the league’s 32 owners approved the relocation of the Oakland Raiders.

One of the United States’ most colourful and storied teams will become the first to play in Sin City, an area previously viewed somewhat dimly by the NFL’s hierarchy due to its association with gambling.

The Raiders will remain in Oakland, where they share a stadium with Major League baseball team the Athletics, in 2017 and 2018 before relocating, as the Rams and Chargers – now in Los Angeles – have done in the past two years.

TENNIS

A POTENTIALLY difficult match, turned into a third-round stroll for Roger Federer, who was as swift and clinical in dispatching Juan Martin del Potro in the Miami Open. The job was done on a 6-3, 6-4 scoreline in just 82 minutes, and the player of the season to date will now face Roberto Bautista Agut in the last 16.