I understand it's my responsibility to uphold the spirit of the game Ricky Ponting

He admitted breaching the players' code of conduct and was fined his entire match fee by referee Chris Broad.

"I made a serious error of judgement. I shouldn't have behaved in the way I did," said Ponting, who queried a wide call by umpire Asad Rauf.

"I know that through my actions I let myself and my team down."

It was Ponting's second dissent offence within the past year - the other was in April during the second Test against Bangladesh at Chittagong.

The latest incident occurred in the 33rd over of the West Indies innings and he was summoned to a disciplinary hearing at the end of the match, which Australia won by 78 runs.

"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," Broad commented afterwards.

A contrite Ponting re-affirmed Australia's commitment to the Spirit of Cricket initiative by the International Cricket Council, which calls for "respect" and "fair play" by all teams.

Ponting added: "We had the opportunity to discuss its importance at our team camp in Queensland last month.

"At the camp the whole squad reaffirmed their commitment to the Spirit of Cricket and I'm disappointed that I fell short of the standards I expect of myself and my team-mates

"I'll be personally apologising to umpire Rauf at the first opportunity."

The issue overshadowed the return to action by Australia's veteran seam bowler Glenn McGrath, who bowled four wides in his first over before settling down for figures of 1-30.

"I think Glenn was probably trying a little bit too hard to make a real impact in his first game back.

"But he is a seasoned campaigner and he bounced back even better in his second spell. He knows what he has to do. It's a matter of getting his body in the right shape to be able to do what he wants it to do.

"By the time the Champions Trophy comes around I'm sure he'll be in pretty good shape," Ponting commented.