Ponting amused by Smith taunts

Australia veteran Ricky Ponting has laughed off suggestions that South Africa will be able to exploit his technique.

Proteas skipper Graeme Smith has said they would be targeting the ageing batsman.

Ponting, at 37, has come into form at the right time, just a few weeks ahead of the first Test against the South Africans in Brisbane, scoring a century for Tasmania this week. He invited the Proteas to go right ahead and try to decipher his batting.

The former skipper said: "I've had opposition teams trying to pick my technique apart for 20 years and I've managed to find a way to combat things most of the time.

"Australian teams have been able to mentally pull apart opposition teams and opposition players. But I'm pretty sure Graeme knows it won't work with me.

"The technical deficiencies that I battled (last year) seem to be a long way away now. I'm getting some results and feel like I'm actually on top of batting again. Batting's starting to feel a bit easier than it did 12 months ago.

"All the shots of old this week were there, the on-drives, and lots of good pull shots as well. That's a good indicator for me that technically I'm in good shape, I'm watching the ball closely and my balance is really good.

"That's where I want to be scoring runs. If you look through my career that's where I have always scored my runs."

Ponting also said that he didn't fear the South African pace attack, considered the best in the world, and said that he had faced pace equal to that of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel from his own countrymen.

He said: "Those guys are no quicker than (Peter) Siddle and (James) Pattinson that's for sure. (But) they've got a very well-rounded attack so that's where this week for me was very important."

The opening Test starts on November 9, followed by Tests in Adelaide and Perth.