CHRIS Russell admits it is time to kick on with his career and says Worcestershire want him to put the emphasis on bowling quickly and with hostility next summer.

Russell signed a new two-year contract at the end of last season when he primarily played white-ball cricket and finished as the club’s leading wicket-taker in the NatWest T20 Blast.

The 25-year-old has been told to concentrate on building up his pace and hopes to compliment the accuracy and reliability of Charlie Morris, Jack Shantry, Joe Leach and Gareth Andrew, who all played key parts in securing promotion in the LV= County Championship.

Russell said: “Is it time to kick on with my career? I think so. I’m 25, almost 26, played a little bit, probably not as much as I’d like across all three forms.

“But since signing that contract I’ve had some good conversations with Bumpy (director of cricket Steve Rhodes) and Mase (fast bowling coach Matt Mason) in terms of where they want me to go moving forward.

“I’m really looking forward to what we’ve got planned over the next five or six months and kicking on and trying to get my way into that Championship side and, if things go to plan, hopefully I can squeeze my way in there.

“I sat down in October, put down what I felt I needed to work on and, on day one back in, Mase completely wiped out everything I had written down and said, ‘We want you to run in and bowl quick’.

“He said, ‘Bumpy wants a quickie, we’ve got someone who can do it, and we think you can do it, consistently try and bowl around the 90 miles-an-hour mark, be a little bit different to what we’ve got’.

“I’m quite looking forward to it because I enjoy bowling quick. I enjoy running in hard and being aggressive and it would be nice to have that bit of freedom and run in and bowl quick and have that little bit of protection.

“It will be good knowing I’ve got the backing to bowl that way and if I go for a boundary it’s not the end of the world and to bowl aggressively and quickly and rough people up. I’m quite looking forward to doing that.

“We’ve got Gaz, Leach, Shants, Moz, who can all go at two-an-over in their sleep and do a fantastic job and build pressure and take wickets.

“If there can be some hostility and quick stuff at the other end, which hopefully I can offer, it’s something different.”