Lara, here with the ICC 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.

"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," Lara told reporters here Friday.

"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.

West Indies Players Association president Dinanath Ramnarine 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 on November 3.

"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," Lara said.

"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.

"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."

Also the West Indies star believed Australia slumped to their surprise Ashes defeat because they didn't plan well enough.

"One of the reasons I think that Australia has fallen off the pedestal a bit is the fact they've got 11 match-winners.

"Somehow they feel that they go out to play and think 'if the openers don't do it, the No. 3 will do it, the No. 4 will do it'.

"There never seemed to be like a plan -- I was a bit worried about that.

"There has to be a plan, you've got to have a structure in terms of how you're going to get your runs, how you're going to get the opposition out."

However, Lara said he does not believe Australian cricket will slide as alarmingly as the once-great West Indies team in the 1990s and should recover quickly after losing their 16-year grip on the Ashes.

He said he wished the Caribbean cricket system had the resources available to Australia.

"We never put anything into place to ensure there was some sort of longevity with our success," he said.

"Australia still has the infrastructure to play good cricket and I don't think their decline is going to be anything close to the West Indies' -- unfortunately for the West Indies, good for Australia.

"I see them bouncing back pretty quickly."