Tim Paine recalls how he failed to control his bowels just before securing Ashes

Australia and England played out one of the best Ashes series last year. The visitors retained the urn as the series ended in a draw and to their credit, Tim Paine and his men defied all the odds to put up an exceptional performance during the contest. For the first time since 2001, Australia had retained the Ashes, the moment which came in the fourth Test at the Old Trafford.

It wasn’t an easy prospect as England‘s tail was wagging bravely late on the fifth day with the umpires discussing the prospect of the bad light every now and then. However, there was one more thing which the Aussie skipper was worried about. Paine was feeling ill during the final moments of the game and has now hilariously revealed that he badly wanted to go to the washroom then.

But Australia had no time left as the game went into the last hour and there were no drink break either. “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.

“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)’,” he said while speaking at ‘Keeping it Real’ Podcast.

You could actually hear it hit the ground, says Tim Paine

Interestingly, Tim Paine remembered that he told about it to David Warner who was standing at first slip and both of them were in splits. Rather the Aussie skipper is thankful that Craig Overton didn’t edge the ball to them at that time. On a serious note, Paine literally soiled himself for the team and further explained the situation.

“Unfortunately, it was one of those moments where the crowd went quiet. Because I was a bit unwell, it was a bit runny and you could actually hear it hit the ground. That ball was bowled I think by Mitch Starc to big (Craig) Overton. Luckily he didn’t edge it because myself and David Warner literally had tears in our eyes, we could not stop laughing.

All was well after the victory though and the whole team knows about it now but Tim Paine feels Justin Langer would’ve knocked a punch at him had he left the ground at such a crucial juncture. “A number of the boys do know about it, I think probably all. Certainly the slips cordon were aware of it. 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 (the 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 (coach Justin Langer) would have knocked me out,” the 35-year-old added.