International Cricket Council pitch consultant Andy Atkinson on Friday said that he was happy with the way the pitch behaved in the ICC Champions Trophy Group B match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
Atkinson used the Poly Vinyl Acetate [PVA], commonly known as builder's glue, to bind the pitch for the match.
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"I think the pitch was good today, but New Zealand didn't bat well. As you saw from the Sri Lankan batsmen, they chased down the target easily and never really had any problems," he said after the match at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai.
Sri Lanka registered a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over New Zealand to take their first points in the competition. They bowled out New Zealand for 165 before cruising to victory in 36 overs.
"It's good that we managed to lay the doubts about the pitch to rest," he said.
Atkinson was specially flown into Mumbai from Essex after the pitches were criticized for producing two low-scoring matches.
The West Indies were bowled out for 80 against Sri Lanka in the last qualifying match, while South Africa were bundled out for 108, chasing New Zealand's 195.
"The whole objective was to maintain the surface through the 100 overs. The pitch for the New Zealand-South Africa match deteriorated rapidly and the team batting second [South Africa] found it really difficult to bat second. So the objective here was to maintain the pitch, which I think happened," Atkinson added.
He said he will try and prepare a good pitch for the final, which will hopefully see some runs being scored.
"Now we have 15 days to prepare a good pitch for the final [on November 5]. It's a big match, so we have to prepare a good surface," he added.
Atkinson was of the opinion that the main problem with the Brabourne pitches was the absence of grass on it.
"The problems with the pitches here is that the grass was taken off. Traditionally CCI wickets have grass on them. Even the net wickets have a bit of grass and the teams that had nets here told me that they were playing well. But the grass was missing from the main pitches and I think that was the problem.
"The pitch used for the Australia-West Indies match had some grass on it and it played really well throughout," he said.
He, however, added that if the grass does not grow in time for the final, PVA would have to be used again.
"We hope to water the pitch heavily and get the grass to grow. But if we can't get the grass to grow, then we might use PVA for the final.
"But you cannot prepare a 250-plus wicket. That depends on a combination of factors, like a team may have a bad day, and may not be able to cross 250," he added.
He also believes that the swing derived by the bowlers in today's match had nothing to do with the PVA glue used on this pitch.
"Swing has nothing to do with the pitch, it depends on the atmospheric conditions," Atkinson said.
Asked whether he would go to some other venue and help out with the pitch, he replied: "At present, I will stay here and prepare the pitch for the final. If a pitch at some other venue has a problem, only then will I go there."
