Andrew Strauss has voiced his concern over Jofra Archer being “rushed back to quickly”. The injury-plagued fast bowler has been included as a travelling reserve in England’s World Cup squad.

Speaking on the In The Zone podcast, Strauss was asked whether he would be worried that Archer could aggravate old injuries if he was called-up to England’s main squad. After clarifying that it would be “great” to see Archer back playing for England, Strauss said: “I think the danger with Jofra Archer is because he has been capable of doing things that other people simply aren’t capable of.

“He came into the last World Cup as a rookie and bowled the super over, this guy who just came out of nowhere, and that means there are maybe unrealistic expectations that he can just come back in having not played for so long and hit the ground running.”

Archer came into the 2019 World Cup having played three ODI matches after qualifying to represent England. He took 20 wickets in the tournament at an average of 23.05 and finished as the third-leading wicket-taker. He also famously bowled the Super Over in the final at Lord’s, restricting Jimmy Neesham and Martin Guptill to 15 runs and ensure England lifted the trophy for the first time.

Since the final, Archer has played just seven ODIs having been kept out of the game for long periods of time with injuries. He was ruled out of a series against South Africa in January 2020 with a stress fracture to his elbow before returning to action later in the year. He underwent surgery on his elbow in May 2021 and had further surgery the following December.

The ECB announced that Archer had suffered a stress fracture to his back in May 2022, but was able to make a return to England colours in an ODI series against South Africa earlier this year. Archer played five game for Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2023 before returning home injured.

When England announced their World Cup squad, Archer was named as their only travelling reserve, but it was confirmed he would not be fit to play in at least the first half of the tournament.

“I would just be wary of assuming in any way that he’s going to play a part in this World Cup,” said Strauss. “I think there should be a longer term plan for him. He’s had two stress fractures in his elbow already, let’s just play the long game here. If that means him missing this World Cup and he plays some T20 cricket next year then gradually building up to perhaps 50-over cricket and maybe even Test cricket, let’s take the long view because he’s been rushed back once too quickly already.

“Even if he came in, it’s lunacy to expect him to be able to deliver straight away. He relied on pace and it’s hard to get straight up to that 90mph plus pace if you haven’t played much cricket and if you’re not very confident that your body is ready to go.

“It’s great for him to be around the environment again. There are still people out there that worry that he’s never going to play for England again – let’s get over that hurdle first of him being ready to play and then we’ll take it from there.”

England will play their first match of the World Cup against New Zealand in Ahmedabad tomorrow (October 5). Less than 24 hours before the game, Jos Buttler revealed that Ben Stokes was an injury doubt for the fixture, having suffered a hip injury.

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