Australia Test skipper Tim Paine on Monday (May 11) revealed how he soiled himself during the closing moments of the fourth Ashes Test against England at Old Trafford last year.
Since the series was locked at 1-1, Australia needed a win in the fourth Test to clinch the urn on English soil for the first time since 2001.
The visitors were one wicket shy of victory with time running out on the fifth day as dark clouds in Manchester threatened to end the contest early.
At that time, Paine could not afford to take the toilet break. Hence, the only option the Australian captain was left with was letting himself loose.
“I was feeling a little bit ill and there were some big, dark clouds rolling in over the grandstand and we only had about seven overs left and obviously we needed that one wicket.(There were) No drinks breaks left, umpires starting to talk to each other about (bad) light,” Paine said while speaking on the Keeping it Real podcast.
“I just had a horrible feeling that I needed to go to the toilet … it was (a) number two and so I basically just thought, ‘Righto, can’t waste any time, I’m gonna have to (go)’. I remember saying to Davey Warner, ‘I’m actually going to have to do this’, and did. Unfortunately, it was one of those moments where the crowd went quite quiet. Because I was a bit unwell, it was a bit runny and you could actually hear it hit the ground.”
Luckily for Paine, Josh Hazlewood quickly wrapped the England innings by dismissing Craig Overton as Australia retained the Ashes.
“A number of the boys do know about it; I think probably all. Certainly, the slips cordon were aware of it,” the skipper said.
“Normally, obviously, you’d run off but, I’m not kidding, there were rain clouds everywhere, it was six or seven overs left, we were down on overs. I just thought they’re (umpires) going to call the game off here and we’re going to get stitched-up, so I couldn’t be running off the ground. I reckon JL (Justin Langer) would have knocked me out.”
