Australian Test captain Tim Paine had to face a tricky situation during the fourth Ashes Test against England at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground. On day five of the match, Australia were closing on in a famous win, but England tail showed some resistance and pushed the game till the end. The weather was gloomy as well and could have spoiled Australia’s efforts. The visitors needed one wicket to win the match with just a few overs left. Ahead of the Test, the series was tied at one each and Australia needed a win to secure the urn on English soil for the first time since 2001. When Will Live Cricket Return? Tracking the Possibility of Resumption of Sport Amid Coronavirus Crisis.
Moments before the close of play on day five, in a tense situation, Paine was not feeling well and required to go to the washroom. The Australian captain instead decided to stay on the field and sadly, he couldn’t control his bowels.
“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,” Paine said. (There were) No drinks breaks left, umpires starting to talk to each other about (bad) light.” Paine said while speaking to 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,” he added. Highest Partnerships in Test Cricket: Listing Top Five Stands for Any Wicket Including 624-Run World Record Partnership Between Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.
“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. 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,” the Australian captain said.
Paine also revealed that all the Australian players were not aware of the incident. He also said that coach Justin Langer would have been unhappy had he left the field. “Yep. 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,” said Paine.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 09, 2020 11:49 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).