Sussex and England bowler Jofra Archer will be back on the pitch at the right pace for the player, according to county head coach Ian Salisbury.
He was asked what the likelihood was of 26-year-old Archer playing soon and who would make the call.
Salisbury said: “Jof’s been in a bubble for well over 12 months now. He’s had elbow injuries. He’s had surgery on his finger. I think it was 100 per cent the right decision to ease him back in last week.
“Just because he’s this global superstar, who’s an amazing guy as well, I always say the person comes first.
“If it wasn’t Jofra, nobody else would be saying: ‘Oh, he’s got to play. He can just turn up and perform.’
“We have to treat him with real caution and look after him as a person.
“If it had been Ollie [Robinson] and he’d had a finger injury and all this, we would have eased him back into it. We wouldn’t have just gone ‘there you go’ and throw you out there.
“It doesn’t work like that in professional sport. Football players and rugby players would have practice games and you ease them back in.
“If he’s right to play this week then so be it, but if he’s not, he’s not because it is more important long term.
“Are we going to force him to come back when he’s actually England’s player and say he gets an injury and he can’t play in the Test matches this summer. I wouldn’t be very popular.
“We have to look after Jofra and look at the bigger picture.
“He is a superstar for England and we want him to be winning World Cups for England and winning the Ashes for England.
“It goes back to us wanting to produce players for Sussex and England. But more importantly we want to look after people as well.”
