The paceman was competing for the first time since a fragment of glass had to be surgically removed from the middle finger of his right hand at the end of March after he broke a fish tank while trying to clean it.

Back into action in a Second XI County Championship match between Sussex and Surrey at Hove, Archer, who has also had another injection to a long-standing elbow problem since he last bowled, was restricted to a brief role with the bat on Tuesday, making 35 of Sussex's 487.

But he was unleashed with the ball before lunch on a cold and blustery Wednesday, which saw him wearing a bobble hat in between bowling stints.

Archer sent down 11 overs, with three maidens, and while he finished with 0-32, there were no obvious signs of discomfort in the issues in his bowling arm that led to his withdrawal from this year's Indian Premier League.

But Archer, whose elbow problems precluded his involvement in England's one-day international series defeat in India in March, saw a catch go down in his eighth over, with Ryan Patel (94 not out) dropped at third slip on 42.

Archer was handed the new ball when it was Surrey's time to bat, smoothly going through the gears and gaining some swing in an opening burst of 4-1-9-0, troubling Ben Geddes twice in the last over before lunch.

Should things remain on track, Archer will target Sussex's County Championship match against Kent on May 13 as the next step in his rehabilitation, ahead of England's two-Test series against New Zealand, which starts on June 2 at Lord's.

Australian Associated Press