Australian Test captain Steve Waugh believes he still deserves a place in the Australia team and will refuse to make any decision on his playing future until after the Ashes series finishes next month.
Australia's chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said on Sunday the panel had spoken to Waugh about his international playing future and that the 37-year-old captain had their backing until the fifth test against England in Sydney (starting on January 2).
"I've never asked for a guarantee not did I want a guarantee," Waugh told a news conference at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday ahead of the fourth Ashes test, which starts on Thursday.
"I've always played my cricket under the belief that you pick your best 11 players and that's never changed. I think it's wrong to give players guarantees. If I'm not one of the 11 then that's fair enough ... I know I am one of the best 11 players."
Waugh gradually grew tired during the news conference of constant questions on his playing future which eventually led Australian Cricket Board media manager Brian Murgatroyd to interject: "Any questions about the Test match, guys?"
"The next two Test matches are about the Australian side playing an Ashes series," Waugh said.
"So I'd like to think that the focus would be on the cricket rather than speculation about myself. I'll make a decision after the Sydney Test match."
Waugh, who was dropped from the national one-day side in March, said he had found it difficult to read Australia newspapers in the past six weeks as some mounted a campaign for him and some were against him playing on next year.
"A lot of people writing stuff don't know what's going on," Waugh said. "One lot of newspapers are for me, the other newspapers are against me, that's just the way it is."
Waugh is Australia's most successful Test captain with 32 wins from 43 matches in charge, including big victories in the first three Tests of this Ashes series.
The former promising junior soccer player from western Sydney will equal Allan Border's world record of 156 Test appearances when he plays in the fifth test in Sydney.
Waugh, who has expressed a desire to play on the West Indies test tour next year, has averaged 26.50 in the first three Tests of the Ashes series.
His highest score of 53 came during the third test in Perth last month after illness had caused him a sleepless night.
Waugh has averaged under 28 in 15 matches since the 2001 Ashes tour to England.
Meanwhile, paceman and teammate Glenn McGrath says Waugh will rise to the biggest challenge of his career.
"You look through his whole career, he's really been a fighter the whole way through," McGrath told reporters at Melbourne airport on Monday.
"Determination and ruthlessness are a couple of words you could say about him. This is probably the toughest fight of his career but the type of character he is, he'll probably rise to the occasion.
Ideally it would be great to see Steve come down here, put a big score on the board in Melbourne and do the same in Sydney."