‘It wasn’t our best day in the office,’ admits Olivier after woeful opening day

After a woeful opening day of the first Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval, where they were bowled out for 95, Proteas fast bowler Duanne Olivier insists they are still in the match.

SA were skittled out for 95 in less than 50 overs on a greentop in Christchurch, their lowest Test score against the Kiwis, with Matt Henry claiming impressive figures of 7/23 at his home ground.

At the close of play, the Kiwis looked good on 116/3 after an action-packed day where 13 wickets fell as bowlers dominated on a surface that assisted the quicks.

On Friday, the hosts will continue with Henry Nicholls on 37 and nightwatchman Neil Wagner on 2 and looking to further increase New Zealand’s overnight lead of 21 runs.

“I think as a team and a collective, it wasn’t our best day in the office but tomorrow is another day,” admitted Olivier who claimed two of the three New Zealand wickets.

“We are still in the game because there is a lot of cricket left to be played. We know what we did wrong and we know where we must improve. At the end of the day, there are some positives to take from today’s play and if we take that, stick to our strengths and the way we play I think we will be in a good position tomorrow.”

Henry returned with the wickets of Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Zubayr Hamza, Kyle Verreynne, Kagiso Rabada and Glenton Stuurman and Olivier said he bowled well.

“He obviously swung the ball a little bit and also brought it back, fair play to him because he bowled really well and from us as a bowling unit we can learn from that.

“We probably weren’t at our best, there were also few catches going down and as a bowling unit we still pride ourselves on learning and getting better and we have seven more wickets to get.

“I think it is about sticking to basics and not trying to complicate things. Starting innings slowly is something that we have discussed because we know that it is not good to start slow especially in a two-match series.

“I think on the day we didn’t execute well but we ticked every box in our preparations and it is just that sometimes you don’t understand why these things happen but they do happen.

“It is how you bounce back that shows what kind of team you are, we have done it many times in the past and tomorrow is one of those days where we have to bounce back.”