BRIAN Lara has confirmed he wants to keep the West Indies captaincy for the tour to England.
Last week he threatened to quit the job if they did not beat Bangladesh in the Jamaica Test, but his innings of 120 helped them earn an innings win.
"It doesn't matter what I achieve on the field personally," he said.
"I've dedicated the last few years of my career to ensuring we get to some sort of respectability in terms of the international Test cricket rankings."
The win over Bangladesh provided some consolation for West Indies after the disappointment of losing 3-0 to England, a result they are eager to avenge on their forthcoming tour.
Writing in the Trinidad Guardian, Lara said he remained concerned, however, about the physical toll being taken on some of his younger players because of the amount of cricket being played.
Pace bowler Fidel Edwards has been forced to pull out of the triangular one-day series against England and New Zealand which launches their tour because of a hamstring strain.
"Fidel Edwards continuously finds himself on the physio table, and now has been sidelined at least five times in his brief career," said Lara.
"We are asking kids to do a big man's job.
"To ask some 20 and 21-year-olds to play back to back Test matches is always going to take something out of them.
"Then to ask them to play one-day cricket is a lot of pressure.
"I feel we should separate them, make sure we get them through and make sure they are always fit for the matches we have ahead."
Lara acknowledged his threat to resign the captaincy which he took on for the second time in March last year was born of frustration.
"On occasion against England we played very poor cricket.
"I think the guys bowled well but we came up with another series loss in the West Indies, something we seem to be getting accustomed to - so I was really disappointed in that.
"Then we drew the first Test with Bangladesh [in St Lucia] and I thought we could have done a lot better," he explained.
West Indies will travel to Ireland for two one-day games next Wednesday and Thursday, prior to arriving in England.
Their opening NatWest Series game against New Zealand at Edgbaston takes place on June 26. (BBC Sport).