Johannesburg (South Africa), Mar. 31 : Ricky Ponting insists Australia''s South African tour hasn''t run off the rails despite three successive losses to the Proteas.

Ponting''s men must regroup for the opening one-day international in Durban on April 3 after losing the third Test by an innings and 20 runs, Friday''s first Twenty20 International by four wickets in the final over and Sunday''s second Twenty20 game by 17 runs.

"I''ve been on the record for a number of years saying I don''t really take much from series to series as far as momentum goes," Ponting said.

"Quite often, you''ve got a vast changeover of personnel from each team. I''d be surprised if the South Africans go into the first one-day game with the same team. Sure, you want to win every game that you play and you give your absolute best to win every game that you play. But as far as any of this carrying over to Friday, I''d be surprised if they are even talking that way about it," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted him as saying further.

Botha has warned the No. 1-ranked Proteas that a strong opening is vital in the ODI series.

"But we know what happened in Australia," Botha said of South Africa''s January tour.

"They won 2-0 [in the Twenty20 series] and we came back strongly in the one-dayers [winning 4-1], so we''ll have to be aware of that.

"We''ll have to start well in Durban. That''s really important for the one-day team, to have a really good start in the one-day series. Hopefully we can do that and keep the momentum going." (ANI)