Vaughan defends substitute policy

Michael Vaughan does not feel his substitute-fielding method is against the rules, but Rudi Koertzen, who will umpire the fifth Test, has vowed to crackdown if anyone abuses the regulation. Vaughan said his players were drinking so much that they had to leave the field for toilet breaks, although Ricky Ponting believed the continual rearranging was against the spirit of the game.

"It is a situation Australia are not happy with but we feel we are doing nothing against the laws," Vaughan told AFP. "I am certainly not telling my team to go and have an extra five minutes' rest. If a player needs the toilet he has to go to the toilet. We are not a team that is going to try to bend the rules. We are quite an honest team."

Koertzen told The Guardian England had not taken advantage of the situation while he umpired in the first two Tests, but he did not watch the third and fourth matches. "I always allow players to go off as they need to, so long as they don't abuse the system and are not acting against the spirit of the game," Koertzen said. "You can't go overboard and do it all the time. If that's the case, then I will put a stop to it."

Billy Bowden, who will also stand in the decider, told the paper he would meet with Ranjan Madugalle on Monday to discuss the issues. "Until then, it is hard for me to talk about [them]."

Vaughan said the debate should not get in the way of a fantastic series. "I do not want to get into an argument about it," he said. "There has been a lot of talk and I am sure there will be a little more."