LONDON, March 9: Under-performing England fast bowler Stephen Harmison was paid nearly £250,000 (about $500,000) for just seven Test appearances last year, according to a report in Britain’s Sunday Times.

The details of Harmison’s salary and other senior England play speculation that England cricketers were being targeted for lucrative contracts with the newly-created one-day Indian Premier League (IPL), which is due to stage a second player auction on Tuesday, the Sunday Times said the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had released figures to them showing how much players were paid for representing their country.

Although Harmison has retired from one-day cricket, the Sunday Times said his band B England central contact was worth £145,000 and meant he received more than £12,000 per month without having to take the field.

On top of that, he received £6,000 for every home Test and £8,440 for each Test overseas.

When win bonuses were included for the 3-0 victory over the West Indies, Harmison’s England earnings alone amounted to £231,760 last year — which the Sunday Times calculated worked out at £9,656.67 for each of the 24 wickets he took.

His county contract with Durham, a national newspaper column and personal endorsements meant that Harmison’s total annual income came close to the £350,000 mark.

Harmison’s England form has been a concern for some time and his initial efforts in New Zealand suggested that, not for the first time since he topped the world Test bowling rankings four years ago, the 29-year-old had come into a series under-prepared.England’s best-paid player last year was Paul Collingwood, who appeared in all but one of 53 fixtures and captained the one-day and Twenty20 teams.

He earned more than £465,000 excluding his county contract and personal endorsements.

Meanwhile all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who spent much of the year sidelined by injury and is not now in New Zealand, received nearly £317,000.

By contrast, the Sunday Times said dynamic New Zealand wicket-keeper/batsman Brendon McCullum earned barely £150,000 from playing international cricket in 2007.

McCullum, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and all-rounder Jacob Oram are understood to be trying to persuade their board to let them arrive two weeks late for the tour of England later this year so they can play in the first-half of the IPL season.

That would give each of them the chance to earn some £150,000 for appearing in six IPL matches and still get to England in time for the final warm-up fixture ahead of the first Test at Lord’s starting on May 15.—AFP