Sajid Mahmood is ready to sacrifice his natural pace to try to find the consistency required to establish himself as a member of England's World Cup attack.

The 25-year-old Lancashire seamer finally made his World Cup bow in Saturday's victory over Kenya, which sealed England's progression into the Super Eight stage of the tournament.

Mahmood bowled within himself to claim one for 39 from his nine overs having been preferred to Liam Plunkett, who was Jimmy Anderson's new ball partner for the opening two Group C matches.

Instead of blasting out the Kenyan batsmen with his explosive speed, Mahmood preferred to use his variations of pace to upset them and impressed both captain Michael Vaughan and coach Duncan Fletcher.

It is a tactic which he may continue to use on the slow Caribbean pitches during the coming weeks as England battle with the other qualifiers to finish in the top four and seal a place in the semi-finals.

"I wasn't worried about the pace I was bowling against Kenya, I was just concentrating on consistency and trying my variations on these type of wickets," he said.

"But as I get more consistent with my action and more confident in the areas I am bowling in, I'm pretty sure I can speed it up a bit more."

Mahmood believes pace can still be a key weapon and singled out Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait, who bowled effectively against South Africa on Saturday, as someone who has been able to extract extra speed from the otherwise slow wickets.

"Pace is still a key thing," he stressed. "Shaun Tait showed that in the game against South Africa. It was a pretty slow wicket and he was getting it up there.

"I do think you have to change it quite a lot, though. You can use pace and put in the odd effort ball as a surprise delivery just as you can use a slower ball in the same way."

He has also been studying the performances of New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond, who was outstanding against England and used a mixture of quick deliveries with slower balls to claim figures of 10-1-19-2 in the opening Group C match in St Lucia.

Mahmood was not selected for that opener, but was impressed just by watching Bond's performance and hopes to introduce some of his tactics into his own displays.

"I've not played that much county cricket so I've been forced to learn most of my cricket at international level and I think it's a good place to learn," Mahmood added.