Vaughan drops Ponting catching pact

Michael Vaughan has rejected Ricky Ponting's goodwill catching deal, where the batsmen would accept the word of the fielders, and will leave contentious decisions to the umpires. Ponting, who has tried to lift the standards of behaviour under his captaincy, was disappointed with the refusal and will try again today at the captains' meeting with the match referee Ranjan Madugalle.

"Umpires are there," Vaughan told AAP. "They have done a really good job over the past couple of years of making the decision out in the middle. I don't know where we've had any instances where the actual TV replay people have come into play, as the umpire asks the player if he caught it and if he says yes, then yes, that's out. I hope that continues."

The memory of Vaughan standing his ground in Adelaide in 2002-03 still annoys the Australians, particularly Justin Langer who claimed the catch with the batsman on 19. Vaughan went on to make 177.

"Every time a player has said, 'It's gone in my hands', the umpire's gone, 'That's out'," Vaughan said. "Every time a player's not too sure, the umpire's said not out. We haven't had any incidents and we don't really see it as an issue to bring up."

Adam Gilchrist this week spoke about walking and Ponting, who got the same response from Stephen Fleming last summer, is intent on improving more on-field standards. "I'm one that wants to push it as much as I can," Ponting said. "It's a bit of a blight on the game that we refer them all to the third umpire."