Australia captain Ricky Ponting was incensed by England bowlers taking regular short breaks at Trent Bridge.

"I always allow players to go off as long as they need to and don't abuse the system or act against the spirit of the game," Koetzen told the Guardian.

"You can't do it all the time, if that is the case I will put a stop to it."

Players are permitted to leave the field for a maximum of eight minutes at a time, and England have taken full advantage of the ruling, usually after bowlers have completed their spells.

Colourful official Billy Bowden will be Koetzen's colleague in the deciding Test and he confirmed that a meeting would be held with match referee Ranjan Madugalle on the Monday before The Oval Test to discuss the matter.

"Until then it is hard for me to talk about," he said.

England and Australia have played an absorbing series in excellent spirit, but there was some acrimony in Nottingham when Ponting was run out by substitute fielder Gary Pratt, and vented his anger at the home balcony.

Koetzen admitted he was pleasantly surprised with the conduct of the players when he officiated in the first two matches of the series.

"I was quite impressed with the spirit the guys played in but I haven't watched the last two Tests so I can't comment on anything that has happened or whether things have changed in the last few games," he said.

England captain Michael Vaughan believes the issue of substitutions has been blown out of proportion.

"We haven't done anything against the laws of the game," he insisted.

"Guys have taken that much fluid on that they are just nipping off to go to the toilet and they are always back on within a minute or two.

"We really do not feel we are doing anything untoward.

"I do not want to get into an argument about it, but it should not get in the way of a fantastic series.

"How the two teams have played has been fantastic for the game of cricket."

Meanwhile Simon Katich, another Australian player to launch an obscene outburst on his way back to the pavilion, has apologised for his actions, which stemmed from a contentious lbw decision from Aleem Dar.

Katich, who was fined 50% of his match fee, told the Brisbane Courier-Mail: "What I did was wrong.

"I shouldn't have let the emotion of it all get to me, but I did and was baited by a couple of the guys in the crowd."