The ECB is still owed a further �1.19m from the ICC

The International Cricket Council (ICC) will hand over �893,000 following a meeting of the ICC's development (International) board in Monaco.

Cricket's governing body withheld the money because of a pending claim against them by Global Cricket Corporation, the sponsorship rights holders for the 2003 and 2007 World Cups.

The claim centred on India's refusal to give up their own sponsors in favour of official World Cup backers.

However, following a reassessment of the claim, the ICC has decided to make some of the money owing to member countries available.

England's money was initially withheld because of their failure to fulfil a pool fixture in the Zimbabwean capital Harare in February.

The ECB is still owed a further �1.19m from the ICC.

England were unwilling to travel to Harare because of security issues due to unrest in the country under Robert Mugabe's regime.

The ECB welcomed the ICC's decision to hand back some of the money.

A statement said: "This is good news for cricket in this country and we welcome the ICC's decision.

"We were concerned that the impact the financial shortfall may have on grass-roots cricket in England."

New Zealand did not play their fixture in Nairobi because of their own security concerns over the situation in Kenya.

But New Zealand have been given back �297,700 of the �1.49m withheld and Sri Lanka were given all of the �297,700 originally held back by the ICC.

Because of their involvement in the claim by Global Cricket Corporation, India will therefore still have their full quota of World Cup payments withheld by the ICC for the time being.

New ICC and IDI president Ehsan Mani revealed the specific nature of the issues relating to England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka allowed this decision to be made by the board.

"The nature of the claims allowed us to return money to three of our boards," he said.

"In relation to the Indian board, it is not possible at this stage to assess the likely maximum claims and all countries made the prudent financial decision to continue to withhold the Indian board's World Cup distribution at this stage."