SYDNEY, Nov 15: Irish-born batsman Ed Joyce was called into the England Ashes squad touring Australia on Wednesday as a replacement for Marcus Trescothick, who left the team and returned home because of a stress-related illness.

The 28-year-old Middlesex left-hander is uncapped at test level but has played three one-day internationals for England after previously representing Ireland at the under-19s World Cup.

He will join the 16-man squad in Adelaide on Friday after Trescothick quit the tour and returned home with a recurrence of depression.

“Ed is a highly promising player who has performed well for Middlesex this season and I am sure he will be delighted to be part of an Ashes squad,” England's chairman of selectors David Graveney said in a statement.

Joyce had already been selected in a shadow squad of English Academy players that will train in Australia on standby in case any senior players are injured and need replacing.

He was promoted to the senior squad after the England selectors opted for a versatile middle-order batsman to replace Trescothick, who is a specialist opener.

Alastair Cook is now expected to be bumped up the order to open the batting with Andrew Strauss with Ian Bell at three, Paul Collingwood at four, Kevin Pietersen at five and captain Andrew Flintoff at six.

“As we already have other players in the squad who have experience of opening the innings we have decided to choose a replacement who will be able to cover a number of different positions within the order,” Graveney explained.—Reuters