Fast bowler Lauren Filer wants to speed up England’s IT20 challenge against India by hitting 80mph in the fourth contest at Old Trafford.
The hosts will go into it 2-1 down in the series, with Filer having taken three wickets in the series to date and had a delivery recorded at 79.4mph in the five-run win at The Oval last Friday.
"I knew that I would be able to push close to 80 (mph), I sort of touched on 78 every so often in the last year," Filer said.
"It is not necessarily hitting that one ball that is 80, because that is not going to make a difference - the difference is the consistency of increasing my speed.”
With captain Nat Sciver-Brunt out due to a groin injury, Tammy Beaumont successfully stood in for that third match in the series and will hope to again lead the team to success to set up. a decider at Edgbaston this weekend.
"After two defeats, I think we were still in a great place," said Filer.
"We knew where to improve and we know that on our day we can beat India - and obviously that was proved on Friday night.
"We will be taking the positives from that win and also learning from the mistakes we made in that game - it probably shouldn't have been as close a game as it was - into Manchester."
With India still going well at 131-2 in Friday’s encounter, Filer’s pace helped to pick up the key wicket of India opener Smriti Mandhana with less than five overs to go. It proved vital to the outcome and the Durham star says she’d like to continue setting the pace: "From the game in Trent Bridge, I think I was averaging 73 then I went up to 75 in Bristol and then 76 at the Oval. That is what I am trying to aim for.
"Hopefully I can hit that 80 number, but it is definitely just about trying to keep consistently bowling at that mid-70s, and I think in the women's game, that is not heard of very often."
