Waugh had refused to confirm his availability for the tour

Australia's Test captain Steve Waugh has confirmed he is available for next month's tour of the West Indies.

The 37-year-old has ended months of speculation that he would retire from international cricket.

He is not part of Australia's World Cup squad but is keen to continue his Test career and will become the world's most-capped Test player if he plays in the first Test in Guyana on 10 April.

He shares the record of 156 caps with former Australian captain Allan Border.

"I feel as if I'm playing really well and, if I retired now, I think I would be selling myself short," Waugh said on Saturday.

"The last 24 to 48 hours I've weighed up the pros and cons and there were more positives than negatives and I decided I really wanted to continue.

I think the whole player-group will be thrilled with his decision Australia's World Cup captain Ricky Ponting

"The motivation was I feel as if I'm playing excellent cricket, I'm batting well and I want to score some more runs.

"And [the Caribbean] is probably my favourite place in the world to play."

Waugh, who has been in fine touch domestically, is captaining New South Wales in the Australian interstate first-class championship final against Queensland in Brisbane.

Feature: Waugh's career

But, making the announcement in Saturday's lunch interval, he denied breaking records was what spurred him on.

"I'm not too concerned about those records anymore. If you play for long enough you're going to get records and that didn't motivate me to continue on," Waugh said.

"I didn't ask anyone else. There was no point in asking anyone else. It's got to come from within. I'm just hoping to be picked to start with."

STEVE WAUGH'S TEST CAREER Born: 2/6/1965 Test debut: Dec 1985 Tests: 156 Runs: 10,039 100s: 29; 50s: 46 Highest score: 200 Average: 49.45 Wickets: 91 Test captain from Feb 1999 to present

Australia's selectors will choose the tour squad on Sunday and are expected to announce the 15-man party on Monday.

Australia's World Cup captain Ricky Ponting said he was delighted Waugh would be playing in the Caribbean.

"I think it's great that Stephen has decided to play on," said Ponting.

"At the end of the Australian summer, the players were adamant that he should keep going, particularly with the way that he finished off the Ashes series.

"I think the whole player-group will be thrilled with his decision."

MacGill does damage for NSW

Waugh is the third highest run-scorer in Test history with 10,039 runs, behind only Border (11,174) and India's Sunil Gavaskar (10,122).

He made his Test debut against India at the MCG in 1985 at the age of 20 and took over the Australian captaincy from Mark Taylor in February 1999.

He led Australia to a world record of 16 straight Test wins and World Cup glory in 1999, and was also a member of the victorious 1987 World Cup side under Border.

Waugh's last Test appearance was against England in Sydney in January when he made 102 to equal Don Bradman's Australian record of 29 Test hundreds.

Australia are scheduled to play four Tests and seven one-day internationals in the West Indies.