Players asked to give money back

Australia's leading cricketers will have to return more than A$500,000 (£196,000) they were accidentally paid by Cricket Australia following an "administrative error".

As Australia have cancelled a number of tours recently, such as the one-day tournament in Morocco and the Test series in Zimbabwe, there was a surplus of money in a contingency fund set up to cover touring payments, and after discussions in June the Australian Board agreed to pay the players half the amount held in the fund. The other half was meant to be kept for next year, but after the error the entire fund was paid out to the players and none was retained for next year.

A Cricket Australia spokesman admitted the error, telling the Brisbane Courier-Mail: "It's a mistake - we accept that - a Cricket Australia administrative error. We have put our hand up and we have workshopped a solution with the Australian Cricketers' Association. We have told the players we will be as flexible as we can be with individual circumstances concerning the repayment of the money."

In order to recover the money, Cricket Australia plans to reduce the affected players' salaries in the season ahead, and some senior players will have this summer's fees cut by more than A$20,000.

Tim May, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers' Association, supported the decision, saying: "If an employer inadvertently pays money to you that you are not entitled to, they are allowed to take it back."

Australia's players are the highest paid in world cricket, and several senior players earn more than A$1million a year in payments from the Board alone.