KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13: Australia captain Ricky Ponting has been fined his match fee for dissent towards an umpire in Tuesday's One-day International against West Indies. The ICC said in a statement that the punishment, imposed by match referee Chris Broad after the close of play in Kuala Lumpur, was made more severe because it was Ponting's second such offence in the past year.

Ponting was fined 25 percent of his match fee after the second Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong in April.The latest charge came after Australia's captain reacted to the calling of a wide by umpire Asad Rauf in the 33rd over of West Indies's innings.

The ICC said Ponting responded by walking up to the official from his fielding position to query the decision.

“A captain should set the example for his players to follow and it is not acceptable for any player, let alone a captain, to question an umpire's decision,” said Broad.

Meanwhile, Ponting has publicly apologised for his action.

A remorseful Ponting issued a statement saying he would also issue a personal apology to Asad for his actions.“Having had the opportunity to sleep on the incident I know I made a serious error of judgment,” he said in a statement.

“I regret the approach I made to umpire Asad Rauf and realise I shouldn't have behaved in the way I did.”

The incident comes at a time when the ICC is resisting calls to strip umpires of their powers in the wake of the ball-tampering row involving Pakistan and Australian umpire Darrell Hair.

The Pakistan Cricket Board wants the ICC to take action against Hair but Australian officials have publicly backed their own man, with Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland revealing he had personally contacted the umpire to say he supported him.

Several senior Australian players also spoke out in support of Hair, arguing that all players should abide by the umpire's decision.

The ICC has called on players worldwide to embrace the traditional 'sprit of cricket' and the Australian players have backed the proposal after addressing the issue of their own on-field behaviour at a training camp in Queensland last month.

“International cricket matches are passionate affairs but as the captain of the Australian cricket team, I understand it's my responsibility to uphold the spirit of the game and I know that through my actions last night I let myself and my team down,” Ponting said.—Reuters