"They were running out of plans...": Angelo Mathews accuses England of cheating after defeat in 1st Test

Veteran allrounder Angelo Mathews has pinned the blame on ball change for Sri Lanka throwing away a commanding position in the recently-concluded first Test against England in Manchester. The hosts beat the visitors by 5 wickets to take the lead in the three-match series.

Sri Lanka were on 146 for 4 and were leading England by 24 runs when the umpires decided to change the ball. Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis were batting in the middle at that time and were well set. Mathews was batting on 59 while Mendis was unbeaten on 33. Soon after the ball was changed, England got two quick wickets to reduce Sri Lanka to 190 for 6.

Chris Woakes broke the stand between Angelo Mathews and Mendis by dismissing the former for 65. Later, Joe Root sent back Milan Rathnayake for 10 to put England in a commanding position. Recalling that phase of the game, Angelo Mathews took a shot at England by saying that the hosts were running out of plans before the ball was changed.

The Sri Lanka team did protest against it but the umpires told them that they did not have 'old enough balls to replace'. The ball change swung the momentum in England's favor as Angelo Mathews rued that Sri Lanka could not capitalize even after working hard to get rid of the shine on the ball.

"It looked like they were running out of plans but unfortunately the ball was changed," Mathews told Sky Sports.

"We were told they didn’t have old enough balls to replace. It changed the entire momentum of the game. You work so hard to get rid of that shine, and we did that. Once the ball was changed, it was a whole different game.

"I don’t know which year the balls were. You’ve got to have a set of rules where you determine how the ball is going to be changed… I don’t know, but it can be disadvantageous for the batters," he added.

This is not the first time that such a controversy has erupted in England in recent times. Last year, a similar incident took place when Australia toured the country for the Ashes. The ball was changed after the 37th over, a move that was questioned by Australia opener Usman Khawaja. Later, a former Australia captain had also expressed his disappointment over the same, saying:

"A huge blunder that needs to be investigated."

Angelo Mathews & Co. suffer defeat:

Talking about the first Test between Sri Lanka and England, the latter won the contest by 5 wickets to go 1-0 up. After being reduced to 190 for 6, Sri Lanka managed to recover thanks to Mendis' century and Dinesh Chandimal's half-century. The duo added 117 runs for the 7th wicket before Mendis' dismissal opened the floodgates.

Sri Lanka lost their last 4 wickets for just 19 runs to be all out for 326. Set a target of 205 runs, England chased down the total in 57 overs by losing 5 wickets.