Brisbane, Australia. The first ball of the 2010/11 Ashes. For 22 players and millions of fans on opposite sides of the world, it will be the start of the series that will dominate their thoughts for seven intense weeks. But for Oli Broom it will be the culmination of a 14-month cycle journey over four continents and more than 15,000 miles that started last October at Lord’s cricket ground in London, halfway across the globe.

Broom, 29, gave up a career as a chartered surveyor to set off on his cricketing odyssey, through which he hopes to raise £50,000 each for two charities: the Lord’s Taverners, who help disadvantaged children to play cricket, and the British Neurological Research Trust. He decided to do the trip a year previously, having grown tired of London life and wanting a new challenge. Then a friend suggested he cycle to Australia to see her and, when Broom realized that Ashes started in November, it all clicked. “From that moment I was cycling to the Ashes,” he says. “I love cricket and it was a really interesting route — although I had to forgo central Asia and the idea of a solid bike ride to Australia because it was too impractical for that time of year. I decided to go through Africa, which means I will have cycled just as far even if it involves the odd boat. I didn’t have a clue about cricket around the world outside the Test nations but I am hooked on it now.”

He left Lord’s with only his bike, a tent, a Mongoose cricket bat, and an aim to play cricket wherever and with whoever he could find in the 20-odd countries he passes through on his way to Brisbane. “The passion of some of the people I have met is infectious,” he says. “I have played cricket with some very different people in extraordinary places — with school kids in Belgium, friends in Germany, girls in Austria, baseball enthusiasts in Hungary, former rugby league players in a Serbian fort, with Australians in front of the Hagia Sophia in Turkey, with Iraqi immigrants in a rubbish dump in Syria, with an ex-girlfriend on the beach in Egypt, with shopkeepers in the Sudanese desert, and finally on proper pitches in Kenya and India! It has all been inspiring, especially in some of the Eastern European countries where the passion for cricket among locals who had only recently discovered the game was unbelievable.”

Broom landed in Mumbai six weeks ago before cycling east, and despite battling with the humidity, the language barrier and the roads, he declares India the highlight of his trip so far. “India is a fascinating country, so diverse and vastly different from England. I’ve loved the Indian passion for cricket. It’s on television in every town and village, and carrying my Mongoose bat on the back of my bike means it’s easy for villagers to see I like cricket. Cricket is always the first common ground between us.”

Yet Broom admits he has found some aspects of his journey tough. “As I have got further into the Middle East, Africa and now Asia, I can go for weeks without an easy face-to-face conversation. The language barrier can be very difficult.... Then there is the heat in India, which at times is indescribable. But when I’ve finished I know I’ll look back on these things as trivial, I know how lucky I am to have the chance to visit these places and receive such a warm welcome everywhere.”

Since arriving in India, Broom has been able to watch some of the Indian Premier League, seeing Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Daredevils in Mumbai and catching glimpses of England’s triumph in the World Twenty20. From Mumbai he headed down the Konkan coast, before turning inland at Lanja in southern Maharashtra in the direction of Sangli, where local cameramen helped him make a short film about cricket in the town. Then it was on to Hyderabad, where he visited the Sports Coaching Foundation and spoke to underprivileged children. He played with them in an eight-over match with a team brought together through Twitter, before taking the long road north to Calcutta.

From Calcutta, Broom heads to Bangladesh, then Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, where he will catch a boat to Darwin to begin the two-and-a-half month home leg to Brisbane. He has a film crew ready to meet him in Darwin for the Australian stretch of his journey and is working to secure funding for the film.

Broom’s efforts are more remarkable for his lack of training. He picked up his bike three days before he departed, having never ridden a touring bike. “I rode it down the path outside my house the night before I was due to leave and couldn’t believe how heavy and difficult to control the bike was,” he says. “That was strange, and alarming. But 17 countries later I’m still going.” So is he confident of making that first ball? “I have a deadline, and there is no danger of me missing it. I will get there, and England will win!”