Lara hopes to stay on for Australian tour

Brian Lara said Friday he was hopeful a protracted sponsorship dispute would not stop him taking part in the West Indies' Australian tour starting in November.

Lara, in Melbourne with the World XI to play Australia in three one-dayers and a Test match, sat out last July's tour of Sri Lanka along with several other leading players over the wrangle.

The dispute, involving the team's former sponsor Cable and Wireless and current sponsor Digicel, also led to Lara and others skipping the first Test in South Africa in March.

Lara told reporters, "It's sad that the West Indies is playing, I'm fully fit, (Ramnaresh) Sarwan is fully fit, Chris Gayle is fully fit and we (were) not out there playing, hopefully that can be sorted out."

"I just want to play cricket really.

"It's very important for me and for West Indian cricket that I'm out on the field playing."

Lara and Gayle, who is also part of the world squad, said they were uncertain about the state of negotiations to resolve the dispute.

Dinanath Ramnarine, president West Indies Players Association, is attempting to broker a resolution with the West Indies Cricket Board.

The West Indies are scheduled to play a three-Test series in Australia starting in Brisbane from November 3. Lara said, "I think Ramnarine, the players' representative, and the board, are actually working behind the scenes now to ensure that the best team comes to Australia."

"I think they're trying to put some sort of mechanism in place that if things don't work out on the table, we're still going to have the best people playing.

Lara added, "I think that Digicel has also said they want the best people playing. The war is a telecommunication war ... I don't really understand everything, but I just want to play cricket really. I'm hoping that in the next few weeks I'll be staying on here for the series."