England’s white-ball captain Jos Buttler welcomed the return of “proper superstar” Jofra Archer as the seamer made a wicket-taking return to action for Sussex’s 2nd XI.
A stress fracture of the back has kept Archer sidelined for the last year but he will be part of next month’s T20 World Cup and tuned up for the warm-up series with Pakistan by turning out for his county’s second string at Beckenham on Friday.
He was parachuted into the match on day four, taking the new ball and claiming one for 11 in six promising and pacy overs in Kent’s second innings.
The 29-year-old, who has previously been playing domestic cricket in his native Barbados, hit opener Ekansh Singh on the helmet and then had him caught in the slips with a delivery that climbed sharply outside off stump and took the outside edge.
Archer wrapped up with a maiden and will now link up with England in Leeds ahead of the opener against Pakistan.
Buttler, who returned early from the Indian Premier League to lead the side’s tournament preparations, told the PA news agency: “It’s a huge encouragement for him to be back and see him ready to play.
“Everyone knows what he is capable of and the attitude he possesses. As a captain he is someone you can always turn to in a game because he always has a trick up his sleeve.
“It’s great to be able to call on him but it’s important to manage expectations. He has been out of it for a while now so we will need to look after him and realise that it might just take him a little while to be the Jofra of 2019.
“He is a proper superstar but we do have to be smart with him. It’s a jump in intensity from what he’s doing now to international cricket and you can’t really replicate it.”