Ricky Ponting has lost no sleep over the boos of the crowd this summer - because he knows there is nothing he can do about it.

Ponting, who on the eve of the Headingley Test confirmed a spat with a spectator at Edgbaston last weekend, must set about the more important business of trying to keep Australia in the Ashes.

If they lose in Leeds - where the fitness of potential pace spearhead Brett Lee was last night still one of several selection imponderables - Australia will have kissed goodbye to the urn again.

Ponting will not be deflected from the events he can control by others he cannot.

On the subject of his ongoing dialogue with England supporters, he said: "It's out of the players' hands; there's nothing we can do about it - and probably to a certain degree, there's not much the administrators can do about it.

"You can't have a security guard per spectator in the ground, making sure he doesn't do anything through the course of the day."

In any case, Ponting has enjoyed much of what has gone on.

"The participation of the spectators has been good fun," he reported.

"There's been a bit of banter, Australian supporters in the crowd as well, Barmy Army - going back and forward to each other. It probably adds a bit to the games.

"I've actually really enjoyed the spectator participation in the series. I've always said the Barmy Armies are the best group of sporting supporters around the world. They come to the cricket to enjoy themselves; sometimes, it's small minorities that make days a little bit disappointing."

Ponting was less amused by what happened in Birmingham, recalling: "There were some words exchanged. The spectator was actually leaning over the front of the grandstand and gave me a bit of a gob-full when I got out.

"As it turned out, he was later thrown out of the ground - so it would appear he was probably in the wrong.

"It's probably a security thing more than anything else. Where we had to walk on and off the ground the other day was very close to the spectators - so if there is one place in the ground where a security guard should have been standing it was right there where that spectator was. It probably could have been avoided."

Ponting does not expect a repeat at Headingley, especially after Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan and England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke both went out of their way to discourage the wrong sort of behaviour.

"It's been pretty well-documented over the last few weeks that I've probably copped a little bit from the crowd," the 34-year-old added.

"But it certainly wasn't a big deal at all, just a few words he directed at me.

"It's part and parcel of what we do. It happens everywhere around the world, and it's no bigger deal here in this series than what it has been in others I've played."

The Australia captain is wary too of the danger of too much crowd control.

"I think you can definitely go too far the other way. You're not going to stop someone having something to say," he warned.

"Let's remember these complaints haven't come from us. It's been the administrators and some of the venues that have been a bit disappointed in the way the crowds have reacted."