Alastair Cook gets married to his childhood girlfriend

England’s ODI skipper and star batsman, Alastair Cook, finally tied the knot with his childhood girlfriend, Alice Hunt, on Saturday, December 31 at the Stewkley Methodist Church, Bedfordshire. The couple got married in the presence of 250 invitees including all notable English cricketers. At the commencement of the wedding ceremony, Cook, along with his wife, departed towards their residence on a tractor. A number of cricket fans accompanied the couple throughout the way, dancing and singing for the star batsman on the most auspicious occasion of his life. Ms Hunt, the daughter of a farmer, has been seeing Cook since school. The couple met first at St Paul’s Choir School, an all girls’ school, where Hunt worked as a chorister.

Cook selected an ideal time for his marriage to Hunt, on the last evening of year 2011. The couple started their new life with the dawn of the New Year. Speaking to the media, minister of the wedding, Jim Gorringe, said, “It went very well. There were 225 invited guests, and quite a few other locals managed to get into the church when they heard about it.” The English spinner, Graeme Swann, tweeted, “Cookie’s wedding list seems full of house and kitchenware rather than things he actually needs. Like a joke book.” Apart from Swann, the other Poms, who attended the ceremony, were Andrew Strauss, Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Jonathan Trott, Tim Bresnan, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara and Steven Finn. Cooky, the maverick opener, was jubilant to be married and hoped for a happy and successful life with his wife. The Gloucester boy was made captain of the England One Day International team at the end of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. His appointment as an ODI skipper was a part of the England Cricket Board’s three-pronged approach i.e., a separate captain for each of the three formats of the game. The new married couple will not have the luxury of an extended honeymoon as England fly to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to play a bilateral series against Pakistan, starting in Dubai, on January 17th, 2012.

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Kevin Pietersen looking to lead England in ODI cricket if Andrew Strauss steps down

England batsman Kevin Pietersen has revealed that he would love to take up the One Day International captaincy of the team once again if Andrew Strauss steps down as a skipper.
Many recent rumours suggested that Strauss will be giving up the captaincy of the ODI side after the conclusion of the ICC World Cup 2011 and will only focus on the longest version of the game. However, no such announcement from Strauss has come despite the conclusion of the mega event.
England under the captaincy of Strauss reached the quarter-final stage of the World Cup but were thrashed by co-hosts Sri Lanka. The Poms also faced some humiliating defeats during the group matches at the hands of minnows Ireland and Bangladesh.
Strauss, who was appointed as England’s captain in 2009, brought a great improvement in the team’s performance during 2010 and did not lose a single ODI series in the entire year. He led the side to some remarkable wins including the 2010-11 Ashes series down under- a feat England managed after 24 years.
Pietersen has been a key player in these successes as he ended the Ashes with 360 runs from 6 innings including his career-best innings of 227. In addition, he also played useful innings in the recently concluded World Cup but was forced to return home earlier due to a hernia concern.
The right-handed batsman had previously served as England’s Test and ODI captain for less than six months in 2008-09.
“A lot of water has passed under the bridge since I last did it and it's something I've thought about in the past few weeks since the rumours surfaced about Andy Strauss stepping down,” said Pietersen.
Showing confidence on his abilities, Pietersen said that he could take the over the captaincy for the second time with more confidence being an experienced player. While recalling his short-term captaincy period, he said that he did not do a bad job and in fact had some memorable moments during his tenure while playing against South Africa.
He asserted that he would welcome the opportunity to lead the England side. Apart from Pietersen, England pacer Stuart Broad has also showed his interest in leading the side in future.

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