England Ashes Heroes 'Urinated on Oval Pitch' After Beating Australia

England's Ashes cricket heroes are facing accusations they demeaned their Ashes victory by urinating on the wicket of the Oval cricket ground after seeing off Australia.

Images uploaded onto Twitter by wicket-keeper Matt Prior show England players sitting in a circle on the pitch surrounded by bottles of lager and champagne.

A queue of players reportedly made trips to the centre of pitch to ease themselves on the wicket, including batsman Kevin Pietersen, bowler Jimmy Anderson and all-rounder Stuart Broad.

They were cheered on by team-mates as they turned the wicket soggy, it was claimed.

Australian media outlets made the accusation in the wake of the heavy beating delivered to the wearers of the floppy green caps by the hosts across the Ashes summer.

No-one at the England and Wales Cricket Board was available for comment.

If true, the antics would invite accusations of hooliganism by England's players and erode the team's efforts against Australia.

Last week, England spin-bowler Monty Panesar quit Sussex CCC after being caught urinating on bouncers at a Brighton nightclub during a drunken night out. He was arrested and fined.

Hearld Sun writer Malcolm Conn reported the latest incident: "While the centre of the ground was quite dark, lights were on in the grandstands with dozens of people still cleaning up after a late finish, which saw the game go beyond 7.30pm.

"A number of players including Stuart Broad, Kevin Pietersen and Jimmy Anderson took it in turns urinating on the pitch to the cheers of their team mates.

"This could be clearly seen from the outside overflow areas of the press box."

Unfortunately for England's image, the claims were then strengthened by a second source, none other former captain Michael Vaughan. He took to Twitter to tell followers what was happening.

He also posted an image of the Oval cricket ground with a giant toilet-seat super-imposed on the famous sporting venue - where Surrey CCC play their home games.

Cricket pundit Vaughan saw the funny side of the alleged incident, tweeting: "Looks like England are already starting to prepare wickets for the arrival of India next summer. Watering the Oval last night after play!!!"