Thursday, September 14 2006 11:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kuala Lumpur: Ricky Ponting, who is fined his entire match fee for breaching the ICC code of conduct, has apologised to umpire Asad Rauf for showing dissent over a decision during the DLF Cup tri-series match against the West Indies.

"Having had the opportunity to sleep on the incident I know I made a serious error of judgment. I regret the approach I made to umpire Asad Rauf and realise I should not have behaved in the way I did," Ponting says in a statement released by Cricket Australia.

In a hearing after the match Tuesday (12 Sep, 2006), match Referee Chris Broad, finds Ponting guilty of having breached level 1.3 of the ICC Code of Conduct for 'showing dissent at an umpire's decision by action or verbal abuse'.

"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," he says.

Ponting queries Rauf's call of a wide ball given in the 33rd over off Shane Watson. Since it is the second such incident in the past 12 months that Ponting was involved in, the other happened during the Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong in April, the punishment is raised to the level 2 offence.