Michael Vaughan has warned England to cut out the swearing as they attempt to safeguard their unbeaten home Test record with a competitive but fair performance in the final npower Test against India.

The England captain has been at the centre of a storm created by the antics of both sides during the bad-tempered second Test at Trent Bridge, which India won by seven wickets to set up this week's series decider at the Oval.

India seamer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was fined half his match fee for barging into Vaughan, while he also bowled a beamer at Kevin Pietersen and ran through the crease and delivered a no-ball around the wicket to Paul Collingwood.

England were also guilty of sharp practice with constant sledging of India's batsmen and placing jelly beans on the wicket to try to unsettle Zaheer Khan while he batted, a stunt which backfired badly with the left-arm seamer claiming the man-of-the-match award with a nine-wicket haul.

But as the stakes are raised as England defend a proud unbeaten home Test series record stretching back to 2001 and India attempt to claim their first series victory on English soil since 1986, Vaughan has acted to try to dampen down the furore by improving England's behaviour.

''I've looked back on the last game and I do think there are a couple of areas where we got close to stepping over the line,'' admitted Vaughan, who is expected to lead out an unchanged team after Pietersen recovered successfully from an overnight virus.

''Our position as international cricketers is to make sure we don't step over the line. We still want to play it in an intense and hard fashion but one thing I don't want to hear is swearing on the pitch. I still want to see bowlers doing a bit of gamesmanship and people chirping because I don't think that's an issue.

''If if gets to swearing and an attack on a player then I think that's wrong. The two games have been played very well apart from one or two little incidents.

''The two games have been really good to play in, you've known you've been in a Test match, and that's what we want to see. We just don't want to see the guys going close to that line.''

England coach Peter Moores was so perturbed by the controversy that he considered asking Sky television, who are the host broadcaster, to turn down the stump microphones to try to mask the constant chatter from behind the wicket.

Moores has decided against making that request with England happy to follow the guidelines from the International Cricket Council, the world's governing body, which state microphones should be turned off while the ball is dead.

''If someone says something over a stump microphone, I don't want to see that thrown out to everyone,'' stressed Vaughan ''There are some things that must be kept on the field but as players we must make sure we play in the right spirit.

''I just don't want to hear swearing on the pitch, none of us want that. We have just got to play it hard and the odd bit of gamesmanship or chirping can sometimes be good.''

But he admitted: ''Players may find it hard not to swear - swearing is sometimes a natural reaction, as long as you're not swearing directly at a player.

''Sometimes players swear at themselves and now and again that will happen, you just don't want to see it at a batsman or back at a bowler.

''We've got to be careful with that because there are a lot of people watching, a lot of kids, and you don't want to see that in the game of cricket.''

Match referee Ranjan Madugalle has also acted by speaking to both sides and reminding them of their responsibilities, with Vaughan adding: ''There were a couple of areas at Trent Bridge when he thought it got close and I totally agreed with him.''

England will just be keen to concentrate on cricket matters as they attempt to defend their proud unbeaten home record.

''It's 2001 since we last lost a series at home and that's the challenge for the week - that's what makes it a good game to play in,'' he said.