Oz cricketers dominate in top 50 sports' earners list of business magazine

Australian cricketers are reportedly dominating in the top 50 sports earners' list of an Australian magazine for the first time following a stunning winter in which they reaped the financial awards of winning 12 of the 13 games against England across all three formats.

The increase in earnings are a result of increased Cricket Australia (CA) contracts, personal sponsorships and endorsement deals, and the explosion of domestic T20 competitions, the most lucrative of which is the star-studded Indian Premier League.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 11 cricketers appear in the Business Review Weekly's Top 50 sports earners list, where all-rounder Shane Watson sits on sixth and the highest with six million dollars in gross earnings, a spot above seventh-placed Australian captain Michael Clarke, who earned 5.5 million dollars in 2013.

David Warner (12th with 3.8 million dollars), David Hussey and Ricky Ponting (2 million dollars), Brad Haddin (1.8 million dollars), Cameron White (1.5 million dollars), Ryan Harris (1.3 million dollars) and Glenn Maxwell (1.8 million dollars) also feature on the list.

The report mentioned that Maxwell's earnings are as a result of being bought by Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians for a whopping one million dollars early last year.