Adam Lyth says he would jump at the opportunity to return to the Bangladesh Premier League later this year after helping Rangpur Riders claim the recent title.
Lyth only played three matches for the Riders through November and early December, an obvious frustration, but he insists his T20 game is better for the experience of being in the same squad as two superstar openers.
The Yorkshire left-hander scored nought, four and three in his trio of outings, and he said: “It was a fantastic experience, although I admit I’d have liked it to have gone better personally.
“To be on the winning team was great, and to experience playing with and being around some of the players that were in our squad, and to be coached by Tom Moody, was so valuable.
“Just being around and watching Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum was an absolute pleasure.
“To be able to tap into their knowledge can only be beneficial for me moving forwards.
“To be on the winning team is what I went out there to do.
“I was in the nets all the time working on my game.
“Also being in different conditions and as an overseas, where there’s a bit of added pressure, were other factors you have to deal with.
“I played in three games and didn’t do as well as I’d like, but I’d jump at the opportunity to go back next year if it came about.”
Gayle scored two hundreds in three matches in the knockout stages last month, including 146 not out in the final win over Dhaka, while McCullum scored back-to-back fifties in the last two matches.
“Unfortunately when Chris got his hundred, I had to go out and field for him,” Lyth chuckled. “But it was nice to be out there in such a big atmosphere.”
Lyth is now back in training at Emerald Headingley with his Yorkshire team-mates ahead of the new county season.
The White Rose squad returned to training on Wednesday after the Christmas break.
The first day back even started with a visit from Olympic medal-winning gymnast Nile Wilson.
The 21-year-old from Leeds, who won bronze in the Horizontal Bar discipline at Rio in 2016 and is rated as a big chance for gold in Tokyo in 2020, aims to undertake various challenges with his father Neil as part of their recently launched YouTube series Neil and Nile vlogs, including horse riding, climbing and dancing.
In this particular challenge, they took on Jack Brooks and Tim Bresnan in the nets.
Their video series has seen almost 60,000 subscribe and can be viewed here: Neil & Nile Vlogs
Nile does have a few significant cricketing links in his life.
His uncle is Pudsey-born Duncan Fearnley, the former Worcestershire batsman and bat maker.
Nile, who played some junior cricket at Farsley, is also managed by Luke Sutton, the former Somerset, Derbyshire and Lancashire wicketkeeper, who retired from the county game back in 2011.
WATCH: The
YorkshireCCC</a> players & staff returned to training today for their first session of 2018.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YourYorkshire?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#YourYorkshire</a></p>— Yorkshire CCC (YorkshireCCC) January 3, 2018
Another visitor to training this week has been the former Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire wicketkeeper Wayne Noon, who is working with the club’s keepers.
Noon, a player between 1988 and 2003, went into coaching immediately upon retirement and was assistant coach at Trent Bridge until last winter.
He worked as one of the ECB’s cricket liaison officers last summer.
Noon will work briefly with the White Rose keepers – he is scheduled to do three initial sessions – with a view to extending the arrangement.
Yorkshire fans will find out further information about the squad’s pre-season plans next week.
It has already been confirmed that Andrew Gale’s men will travel to Potchefstroom in South Africa for a 13-day tour from March 7, where they will play six days of cricket comprising of two-day and one-day matches.
They will play Nottinghamshire in both forms and Leeds/Bradford MCC Universities in a one-day clash.
Next week, the club will reveal an exciting winter plan to boost preparations for this summer’s NatWest T20 Blast.
David Willey has helped defending champions Perth Scorchers make a winning start to his latest Big Bash campaign in Australia.
