South African Captain Greame Smith said "I’d probably say yes because I know what he can do, I know what he’s capable of."
"You’ve seen him perform at a level over a period of time."
"As a left-hand opening batter I’ve obviously got a lot of respect for the performances he’s had over the years."
"There is a lot of speculation on him at the moment and I guess the Australian team, leadership and selectors need to guide you on that in terms of where their thinking is and what their plans are going forward."
Ponting insisted that he wants Hayden to continue playing.
"I’d love Matty to keep playing," Ponting said.
"If you’re asking me personally I’d have him in my team every day of the week because he’s a champion player and a champion bloke and great for our team right at the moment." said Smith.
"We (will) just treat it the same as we have in this series," Smith said.
"We’ve got our game plans to Matty and they seemed to have worked well for us.