August 09, 2007	Thursday	Rajab 24, 1428

LONDON, Aug 8: England captain Michael Vaughan has warned his side to keep their behaviour in check during the third and final Test against India at The Oval, saying swearing at opposing players is unacceptable.

The series, which India lead 1-0 after a seven-wicket win at Trent Bridge, has been marred by excessive sledging on both sides.

Matters got especially out of hand at Trent Bridge, where India’s Zaheer Khan was infuriated by the sight of jellybeans left on the pitch and waved his bat angrily in the direction of the slip cordon.

On a more serious note fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was fined 50 percent of his match fee for barging into Vaughan and also let loose a no-ball bouncer, after over-stepping by several feet, at Paul Collingwood.

England coach Peter Moores even suggested the stump microphones ought to be turned down at The Oval but Vaughan made it clear he wanted to deal with issues of bad language at source.

“I’ve looked back at the last game and I do think there were a couple of areas where we got close to stepping over the line,” Vaughan told reporters at The Oval on Wednesday. “I don’t want to see swearing on the pitch. I still want to see bowlers doing a little bit of gamesmanship, and chirping. But swearing, and an attack on a player, I think that’s wrong.

“The two games have been played very well apart from one or two little incidents,” he expressed.

After the second Test, match referee Ranjan Madugalle said he would be speaking to both Vaughan and India counterpart Rahul Dravid to remind them of their responsibilities.

“He spoke to me this morning,” said Vaughan. “He’s a good match referee.

He's not got any real big issues. There were just a couple of areas at Trent Bridge where he thought it got close and I totally agreed with him.”

England haven't lost a home Test series under Vaughan and their unbeaten run on English soil extends back to 2001.

“It’s a great challenge for the team,” said Vaughan. “We’re 1-0 down against a decent Indian side. How are we going to react the pressure of being 1-0 down and get it back to 1-1? These kinds of games are great because you see which players stand up to the pressure and you learn a lot about your team in a week like this.”

Meanwhile, England received an eve-of-Test boost with the appearance of Kevin Pietersen at their practice session on Wednesday.

He had been confined to his hotel room since Tuesday with a high temperature and was put on antibiotics.

“He’s alright,” said Vaughan. “He had a net but didn’t take part in the run-around fielding drill, but he’ll be fine to go into Thursday’s game.”

India captain Rahul Dravid hopes The Oval crowd will once again have reason to applaud the visiting side when the final Test gets underway.

If Dravid’s avoid defeat at The Oval it will mean India have won only their third Test series in England since first touring the country in 1932.

For the 34-year-old Dravid this could be his last Test in England with India’s next tour here not until 2011. Dravid, who five years ago scored 217 in a drawn Oval Test that saw England and India square a four-match series 1-1, told reporters at the ground on Wednesday: “I have some very good memories here. But five years have passed and this is a new game.”

Squads:

England: Michael Vaughan (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior (w/k), Ryan Sidebottom, Andrew Strauss, Chris Tremlett.

India (from): Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (w/k), Ranadeb Bose, Gautam Gambhir, Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Ramesh Powar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Yuvraj Singh.—Agencies