'We play for something greater than us': Germany eye cricket World Cup glory

With a grandfather who played first-class cricket, and a father who had a distinguished career for South Africa, it might be easy to think Michael Richardson was always destined for international cricket.

The route he has taken to get there, though, has been a circuitous one – and via the other side of the family bloodline.

Now aged 35, and two-and-a-half years out of the English first-class game, Richardson will be lining up in the colours of Germany in Muscat this week.

Germany are one of eight teams pursuing two spots at the T20 World Cup later this year via the qualifying competition in Oman.

A side made up of roofers, chefs, students, computer programmers and – in Richardson’s case – unemployed ex-professionals will be in the same group as Test nation Ireland, as well as UAE and Bahrain.

For Richardson, it is a chance to honour the memory of his mother’s dad, Helmut Gruttner, a German who migrated to South Africa in his late teens.

Qualifier A, Muscat

(All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv) 

Fixtures

Friday, February 18: 10am Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain 

Saturday, February 19: 10am Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain 

Monday, February 21: 10am Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines 

Tuesday, February 22: 2pm Semi-finals 

Thursday, February 24: 2pm Final 

UAE squad:Ahmed Raza(captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia

Richardson was first approached to play for his grandfather’s nation in 2019, when he was