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MELBOURNE, Saturday (Reuters) - Australia test captain Steve Waugh, who is under pressure to hold his place in the team beyond the current Ashes series, believes his side is running so smoothly it can almost do without a leader.

"I think it's got to the stage now where the team basically is on automatic pilot," Waugh told a news conference on Wednesday ahead of the fourth test against England.

"Our team meetings normally last about five minutes. When I first came into the side (17 years ago) they could go for an hour, an hour and a half.

"The team is running really smoothly now. That is a sign that you've done your job pretty well."

Australia are on top of the International Cricket Council's Test Championship Table and lead England 3-0 in the five-match Ashes series.

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 in Sydney (starting on January 2).

Waugh said he would not be making a decision on his playing future until after the Sydney test and added he did not seek or want any guarantees from selectors but felt he was still one of Australia's best 11 players.

Test cricket's third-highest run-scorer played the first of his 154 matches in 1985-86 when Australia were struggling to cope with the retirements of Greg Chappell, Rod Marsh and Dennis Lillee.

World record

The tough competitor 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.

A former promising junior soccer player from western Sydney, Waugh will equal Allan Border's world record of 156 test appearances when he plays in the fifth test in Sydney.

While many commentators see the Sydney test as a fitting farewell for one of Australia's most admired sportsmen, rather than taking his chances for selection in next year's West Indies tour, Waugh said he was not seeking accolades.

"I'm not after fairytales mate," Waugh said on Wednesday.

"I feel there is so much goodwill and I appreciate that but an extra couple of claps in Sydney is not going to make any difference and it's not going to change the way people feel.

"I just want to go out there and play my cricket. It can become too emotional if you make a decision beforehand. I think it can affect the way you play.

"Life will go on, the team will survive. It's got to end at some stage. You want to sort of go out on your own terms. But I've never expected any favours."

Waugh has averaged under 28.00 in 15 matches since the 2001 Ashes tour to England. His career figure has slipped below the celebrated half-century to 49.44 with 9,840 runs from 154 tests including 28 centuries.

Waugh said the comments by Hohns had been disappointing.

"It was a private conversation we had which I thought was private (but) ... obviously it wasn't," Waugh said in an BBC Radio interview aired on Wednesday.

He added in his news conference: "I was disappointed to read that I had guarantees up until the next two test matches.

"I guess Trevor was trying to get a positive message out there but I didn't agree with it because guarantees are something that have happened in the past and it didn't work well for the side."

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