Last updated on .From the section Cricket

Cook and his new wife take the rural approach to wedding travel

England one-day captain Alastair Cook married his childhood sweetheart - and celebrated with a tractor ride.

The opening batsman tied the knot with model Alice Hunt on Saturday after spending Christmas helping out on her family farm in Hockliffe, Bedfordshire.

Many of Cook's England team-mates - Andrew Strauss, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan and Steven Finn - attended the service at Stewkley Methodist Church in Buckinghamshire.

Cook: groom and dog-walker

They then joined dozens of well-wishers lining the streets as the happy couple shunned tradition to leave church on a tractor.

Cook, who scored 766 runs in England's successful Ashes campaign in Australia last winter, has enjoyed another memorable festive period.

He was shortlisted for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, won the Team of the Year award with England and turned 27 on Christmas Day.

He and his international colleagues fly to the United Arab Emirates on Monday for the Test and limited-overs series against Pakistan.