Paine reveals a dirty secret

Australian Test cricket captain Tim Paine has revealed an incredible, and somewhat sordid, insight into the moment his side secured their Ashes victory over England in 2019.

Paine led Australia's charge to win back respect after the ball tampering scandal and has done so with humility and good humour. But he is also prepared to get dirty.

Australia headed to the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford last year with the series tied and needing a win to secure the urn on English soil for the first time since 2001.

Late on day five, Australia needed one more wicket with only few overs left in the day as dark clouds threatened to end the contest early, either through rain or bad light.

Speaking on a podcast, Paine divulged all the dirty details of his very own Matt Renshaw conundrum.

"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. "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 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."

Just in case that didn't make it clear Paine soiled himself only moments before securing the urn, he continued.

"Unfortunately, it was one of those moments where the crowd went quite quiet," he said. "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."