Cooper gets special Lords treatment

Henry Cooper poses with England captain Alastair Cook after their session ahead of the England-Sri Lanka test series.

It's not every day you bowl to the England test captain at the home of cricket.

But Henry Cooper got the opportunity and took it with both hands.

Cooper leapt at the chance to bowl to Sri Lanka and England at Lord's ahead of their recently completed test series.

"The head coach of the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club), who I know very well through playing a bit with him earlier this year, got in touch about a week before," he said.

"When he asked if I could come down, I was very quick to say yes. My dad and sister had just arrived here but they were very understanding."

Cooper has been plying his trade for Broad Oak in the Drakes Huddersfield Cricket League, putting his all-round talents to good use.

He said bowling at the two test sides was a great experience.

"It was awesome. Bowling to the best players in the world was a massive thrill. Just being at Lord's was one of the biggest highlights since being in England," he said.

"They were completely different in the way they approached their trainings but seeing just how good they were up close was awesome. Walking through the gates of Lord's into the player's area will be a memory I remember forever."

Cooper said a number of players took time out of their net session to talk tactics.

"The highlight was actually having a conversation with Alastair Cook about my plan on trying to get him out. It's tough to come up with an answer to a man who has over 10,000 test runs," he said.

He did think he might of gotten the better of the England skipper on one occasion.
"Cook missed a sweep shot which would have been close to lbw but that could just be me being biased."

That wasn't the only wicket he took through the sessions.

"I got (top order batsman) Kusal Mendis caught and bowled and a few of the Sri Lankan tail out. I also dropped Steven Finn caught and bowled in front of a couple of hundred people which wasn't my brightest moment of the week."

Cooper has been lighting up the Huddersfield league, leading all run scorers by plundering 536 runs in just 10 innings at an average of 76.57.

His off-spin bowling has been solid as well, taking 13 wickets at 15.54 runs a piece.

He said he had to adapt to the much different conditions he deals with in England.

"Everything from the conditions to the mind-set is a lot different. The weather is not ideal a lot of the time our first game was snowed out and we have played a few games below 5 degrees," he said.

"This means the pitches are usually under prepared which is never fun for batting but I feel like I have a good grasp on how to approach an innings now and also how to bowl in less than ideal conditions."