FORMER Hampshire allrounder Shane Watson was the highest-paid Australian cricketer in 2014.

He raked in $4.5m that year to make him the eighth richest sportsperson in Australia.

Watson’s $2.2m contract with Indian Premier League side Rajasthan Royals comprises of almost half of his annual wages and he has reportedly been retained for the same wage for next season.

His continued money-making ability could be one of the reasons why he has decided not to return to The Ageas Bowl for a third spell with Hampshire in 2016.

The county were keen to bring him back for the first time since 2005, but Watson is keen to extend his Australian ODI career after retiring from Test cricket.

As a result of that retirement, more dates have opened up in his calendar to play in lucrative T20 tournaments.

He could join the likes of Chris Gayle and ex-Hampshire batsman Kevin Pietersen as T20 ‘guns for hire’.

Watson has said he is open to the idea of playing in both the Pakistan Super League and the Caribbean Premier League.

“Hopefully (I will) still be playing one-day and Twenty20 cricket for Australia for a while, with the exciting thing of being able to play some Big Bash games, and potentially play a couple of other leagues, whether it be the Caribbean league or the Pakistan Super League as well as the IPL,” he remarked.

“It’s an exciting time in the world game for me personally, knowing that I’m not going to play any more Test cricket,” he said.

Watson edged out colleagues Mitchell Johnson ($4.1m) in 10th place and Michael Clarke ($4m) in 11th to be the highest-ranked cricketer in the Australian sport high-earners list.

Overall, there are 13 cricketers in the top 50, all of whom earned more than $1m in the 2014 calendar year.

The earnings come from a combination of prize money, salaries and commercial sponsorships.

Clarke, who doesn’t play T20 cricket, benefits from his captaincy bonus and his sponsorship deals.

While Watson tops the list of cricketers, he has a long way to go to catch Australia’s richest athlete in NBA star Andrew Bogut.

Bogut, the No.1 draft pick in 2005, netted $16.2m for the league-leading Golden State Warriors in the second year of his three-year deal.

The 213cm center leads golfers Adam Scott ($15.5m) and Jason Day ($10.65m).