Ponting smashes Black Caps to a series victory ..

Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes he is not at his 'absolute best' despite scoring back-to-back centuries in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series against New Zealand.

If the Kiwis could not remove Ponting when he wasn't at his peak, then Lord have mercy on India should the Tasmanian be at top form during the upcoming Test series.

Ponting, described by New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori as the best batsman in the world, made the claim in Hobart on Thursday after hitting a chanceless 134 not out against the Black Caps.

That score came less than a week after he carved an unbeaten ton in the series opener in Adelaide.

While it was no surprise to hear Ponting say that he felt in control of proceedings when he made those scores, it came as a minor shock when he declared he was not on top of his entire game.

"I'd had a few good shots, mishit a few in a row then hit another good shot and that sort of thing, today was a little bit the same," Ponting said of his contributions in Adelaide and Hobart.

"Whenever you spend time out in the middle like that you can feel confident about yourself next time you go out to the crease."

"For me now I'm not someone that needs to train a lot and hit a lot of balls. I know my own game, my own preparation pretty well now."

Like the rest of the Australian team, Ponting will take the next two days off before preparations begin for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne against India.

Vettori said there was no doubt Ponting was currently the game's premier batsman.

"That's got to be the sheer weight of runs, sheer volume of runs over a consistent period of time," Vettori said.

"I don't think there's too many people in both forms of the game that can match him."

"Even with the stats now he's going to be remembered as one of the greats but I think they're going to get even better and better."