MARK WOOD: How I'm using mind tricks, Arnold Schwarzenegger and a mouse with sewing pins in it to bowl faster than ever... even with one arm For genuinely fast bowlers, the 90mph mark is rarely far from their thoughts, but Mark Wood has put a new twist on it as he begins an Ashes year refreshed after a four-month injury lay-off.
Indeed, during a scintillating spectacle against West Indies at Trent Bridge last July, Wood raised the bar for sustained pace by a bowler across a Test match in this country, averaging 91.2mph per delivery in the 241-run win.
'My average pace is going up year on year, my control last summer was OK as well, so I just want to try to keep that high speed as much as I can, not at 90 but above it.
While most of his rapid rivals hurtle to the crease with the desire to hit the speedgun milestone, Wood is determined never to dip under it during the remainder of what has been a stop-start career with England.
This was dramatically higher than his career mean of 87.4 and shattered the previous record on British soil of 90.59 by Australian Brett Lee in the iconic 2005 Ashes.
