New Dutch coach Peter Drinnen was in positive mood after the first day’s play in Windhoek, giving full credit to the Namibians, but reserving some for his own players for the way they had stuck to the task.

‘I was very impressed with the way the Namibian batsmen went about things, and the way they consistently built partnerships,’ Drinnen said on Thursday evening.

‘They have some very good batsmen, and they were difficult to contain on a pretty flat wicket with little sideways movement. Even good balls were dispatched to the boundary.’

Despite his side’s tough day in the field, Drinnen stood by the decision to put the home side in.

‘We expected it to be a reasonable track, but after all the rain there’s been we thought there would be something in it for the bowlers, especially early on.

‘I have no problem with the decision to field first – we know that Namibia would have done the same had they won the toss.

‘And I thought our bowlers did OK in a situation where the margin for error was extremely small. Edgar Schiferli was particularly impressive.’

Drinnen stressed that his side had done well considering the limited preparation they had had.

‘The lads really put in a shift today, and the effort was great. On the back of our winter, with the long flight and two days’ training, there were naturally some cobwebs, but I thought our guys hung in very well against a side who played very well.’

The new ball is only eight overs old, and Drinnen will be wanting his bowlers to make that count on Friday before the Namibian batsmen get another start: ‘The first hour tomorrow will be crucial. We need to get it right in the morning, finish them off quickly, and then I’m looking forward to seeing how we go with the bat.

‘I think we have a fine batting line-up, and on a good surface for batting I’ll be looking to some of the lads to go big. They’ve certainly looked good in training.’