“We were told they weren’t old enough to replace them. That changed the whole momentum of the game. You work so hard to get that shine off, and we did it.

“Once the ball was changed, it was a completely different game… You have to have some rules that dictate how the ball is changed… I really don’t know, but it can really be detrimental to the batters.”

A similar move during last year’s fifth Ashes Test prompted questions from Australia’s season-opener Usman Khawaja, who had “never felt the ball hit my bat so hard” as when the ball was controversially swapped at England’s request.

Ricky Ponting was particularly vocal in his objections to the change of ball, saying it was “a huge blunder that needs to be investigated”.

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Sri Lankan batting coach and former England batsman Ian Bell was more diplomatic about the impact of the change of ball in Manchester, pointing out that stadium floodlights were switched on around the same time amid heavy cloud.

“In England that can happen,” Bell said. “You just ask for it to be consistent for both teams. I know we tried to change it a couple of times in the first innings but they didn’t.

“But the seam looked pretty bad on that last ball and unfortunately you have to accept that a change of ball in these conditions can throw things off.”