From bad to worse as Proteas crumble, then fumble: 'Guys don't do it on purpose'

On all fronts, the first day of the first Test against New Zealand in Christchurch on Thursday was one to forget for the Proteas. 

Rolled all out for 95, it was South Africa's worst performance ever with the bat against the Black Caps, and they needed to hit the ground running with the ball to stand any chance of saving the game. 

It didn't help, then, that a total of four catches were dropped as the Proteas found some headway to leave New Zealand 116/3 at stumps on day one, already 21 runs ahead of South Africa's paltry first-innings offering. 

Not all of the chances were easy, but at this level most should have been taken. 

Tom Latham was dropped by Marco Jansen at gully when he was on 9 in what was a routine chance, thought that one did not hurt the Proteas too much with New Zealand's skipper eventually out for just 15.

Henry Nicholls, though, is 37* and he was grassed on 5* and then again on 23* and those two mistakes have the potential to prove extremely costly given the Proteas' low first innings total. 

First, Zubar Hamza at slip threw one hand at an edge off Nicholls when he should have gone with two, before Temba Bavuma dropped a relatively easy catch at backward point off the bowling of Kagiso Rabada. 

To make matters even worse in the final over of the day, nightwatchman Neil Wagner pushed Duanne Olivier to Rassie van der Dussen at short-leg, but the South African middle-order specialist fumbled the sharp chance. 

With so little runs on the board, the Proteas know they cannot afford to let chances go by, but fast bowler Olivier (2/37) was sympathetic at the end of the day's play.

"As a bowler, you always feel frustrated, but at the end of the day we're a team and guys don't do it on purpose," said Olivier.

"It can be a