Australia captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to bat in the opening one-dayer of the five-match series against South Africa at Kingsmead here on Friday.South Africa were boosted by the return of captain Graeme Smith after recovering from a broken hand in the second Test, while Australia handed bowler Ben Laghlin his ODI debut. Off-spinner Nathan Hauritz also made it into the Australian eleven.Australia retained their makeshift opening pair of Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin, leaving out regular opener Shaun Marsh on the bench.