BRENDAN Taylor was paid just $250 for playing at the World Cup despite being one of the best batsmen at the tournament.

The former Zimbabwe star, who retired from international cricket after the World Cup, has opened up on the reasons behind his decision to walk away from playing for his country to take up a contract with English county Nottinghamshire.

Unsurprisingly, the overriding factor was money.

But Taylor is far from the stereotypical gun-for-hire that has emerged in modern cricket where lucrative T20 contracts are available year round.

HOW TAYLOR FAREWELLED INTERNATIONAL CRICKET

He cared deeply about representing Zimbabwe - his emotional reaction as he walked off the ground having made a century against India in his last international match said it all - but simply couldn’t justify being paid such meagre sums.

It is being widely reported that Taylor received around $250 - before tax - for his six World Cup matches, in which he scored 433 runs to finish fourth on the run-scorers list.

That equates to approximately 58 cents per run.

By contrast, Australia’s players receive $5,600 for each one-day international they play. The World Cup winning Aussies also received a total of $4.3 million in prize money although Cricket Australia does not divulge how and where that money was distributed.

Each team that was eliminated at the group stage of the World Cup - Zimbabwe included - was awarded $35,000 in prize money.

Taylor was the only batsman in the top 10 run-scorers list whose team didn’t make it out of the group stage.

Having started the next phase of his life in England, Taylor spoke to BBC Sport about his decision to move abroad.

“It is every international player’s dream to put on their country’s shirt, that is why we play the sport,” he said.

“But our careers do not last forever and I want to go and play in a great setup, which Notts has provided for me.

“It was not an easy decision but I guess every player would be lying if they say they are not trying to maximise on potential earnings.”

The lack of money given to players is a major issue facing Zimbabwean cricket, with pay disputes erupting like spot fires several times over the past few years.

That is a stark contrast to the security offered by an English county contract, where Taylor can expect to earn in the vicinity of $95,000 to $190,000 per year.