Cycling to the Ashes

While thousands of England fans will fly across the world to support their team during the 2010-11 Ashes, one enthusiast is taking a longer route. Oliver Broom plans to cycle to Australia and he hopes to raise £100,000 for charity and teach or play cricket in 30 countries.

His trip will begin outside Lord’s on October 10 and he will spend time in France, Germany, Slovenia and Turkey. The rest of the journey will take Broom through Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. He will finally reach Darwin in Australia by boat before pedaling his way to Brisbane.

"I’ve known Oli since our school days [Radley College] and can vouch for his sanity. I look forward to seeing him on his bike in Brisbane,” England captain Andrew Strauss told the Telegraph. For Broom’s sake, hopefully England will do better than the 5-0 whitewash they received in 2006-07.