Cycling From Lord's To The Gabba

Cricket does something odd to people. The Ashes does something even odder. I don’t know what it is, but it seems to inspire crazy, unlikely ideas to spring out of nowhere; cricket acts as a platform on which the maddest of plans are hatched, and most of them come off. The latest comes from Oli Broom who writes in with the cheery news that he’s going to cycle, on his own, from Lord’s to The Gabba in Brisbane and he hopes to raise £4 for every kilometer. His legs will have taken him 25,000km.

There’ll be a fuller piece on this at Cricinfo in the next day or two but, in the meantime, here’s what Oli is planning:

In October this year I am starting a 25,000 km solo cycling expedition from Lord’s to The Gabba in time to take my seat for the first Ashes test in Brisbane (the Ashes tour itinerary hasn’t been set but the first test is likely to be around 25th November 2010).

In short, the expedition has 3 aims:

1. To cycle from Lord’s to The Gabba in time to see England play Australia in the first Ashes Test Match of the 2010/11 series. I’m hoping to have friends / colleagues join me for certain legs of the journey - quite a few have expressed an interest.

2. To raise £10 for every kilometre that I cycle (so about £250,000). Funds raised are to be divided between two charities – The Lord’s Taverners, whose mission sits very well next to the aims of the expedition - and the British Neurological Research Trust at UCL (a close friend I used to play cricket with broke his neck and is now paralysed and needs 24 hour care - the BNRT undertake ground breaking research into such injuries).

3. To play cricket in as many countries as I can on my way across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Sub-Continent, South-East Asia and Australia. These games wont all be scheduled matches, although I’m hoping to get a few proper ones through contacts at the ICC, MCC and Lords Taverners.