Taylor makes himself available to captain Aussies in Caribbean

Taylor, 34, has previously only committed himself to the current Ashes series against England but Friday said he wanted to settle one personal challenge in an extraordinary career.

On the eve of leading Australia into the fourth Test against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the traditional Boxing Day match, Taylor said he wanted to rectify a poor batting record against the champion West Indian pace battery of Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop.

Taylor, whose Test average is around 44, has a batting average of 28.11 against the West Indies in 20 Tests -- his lowest against all of the Test-playing countries.

Ambrose has taken his wicket nine times, Bishop seven and Walsh six.

Australia tour the Caribbean for a four-Test series starting next March.

``I'm fairly sure I'll go to the West Indies if the selectors pick me,'' Taylor said Friday.

``I'm still enjoying playing and the side is playing well with me as captain so provided those two things are maintained I will keep playing.

``The one side I haven't played well against is the West Indies, they have been the one bogey side.

``I'll be going over there if selected just trying to relax and play the way I would play against any other side.''

Taylor has led Australia to 25 victories from 48 Tests since taking over from Allan Border in 1994, a winning rate among the best in the sport's history.

During his positive and insightful tenure, Australia has stamped itself the premier Test cricket nation with series wins over the West Indies, Pakistan, England and South Africa.

Taylor's position has come more into focus with the adverse publicity surrounding possible replacement Shane Warne in recent revelations of taking money along with Mark Waugh from an illegal Indian bookmaker during the 1994 trip to Sri Lanka in return for pitch and weather information.

Steve Waugh, who is the national one-day captain, would be well positioned for the Test captaincy as the current vice-captain, but not for the long term as he is just one year younger than Taylor at 33, hence the importance of Taylor's continuing availability.

Taylor said he had not thought hard about retirement, focusing more on Australia's fourth Test against England, with the Ashes already secured for a sixth straight time in the last Adelaide Test.

The 102-Test veteran enters the Test just two victims short of his predecessor Border's world record number of Test catches of 156.

``Whether it's my last Boxing Day Test match I don't know, a year is too long,'' Taylor said.

``There's too many games between now and then, I'll just see what happens in the next six months.

``I'll stop playing when I'm out in the middle and things aren't happening for me with the bat, as a captain or in the field or I'm standing out there one day thinking 'what the hell am I doing out here'.

``That will be the reason I stop playing.''