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Opener Herschelle Gibbs was missed by Marlon Samuels at extra cover and, more importantly, Wavell Hinds failed to hang onto a diving chance when Neil McKenzie had made 43.

McKenzie went on to make 73 and shared a fourth wicket stand of 149 with Daryll Cullinan, who was 108 not out at close of play.

Hooper said his team had now put down eight or nine catches during the series, which South Africa lead 1-0.

"There are a lot of areas that we've got to work on. It is hard enough to fix the batting and now we seem to be dropping relatively easy catches, so we've got to put that right," he commented.

Hooper put South Africa in after winning the toss and the pitch offered help to the bowlers in the early part of the day.

"I think, certainly given the state of the wicket in the first hour, hour and a half, it could have easily been five or six down, but I don't think we made them play enough.

"That was a bit disappointing and again we continue to drop catches and it is costing us," he said.

West Indies are hoping for an improved performance in the field on the second day in order to restrict South Africa's total.

"A score under 325-330, I will be happy with - you're talking about another 60-80 runs.

"But it's a good batting wicket now and hopefully if we can get them under 325, we can make good use of it," Hooper added.