YORKSHIRE batsman Adam Lyth has flown out to join Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum for a six-week adventure in the Bangladesh Premier League.

Playing for Rangpur Riders will be Lyth's first taste of overseas Twenty20 cricket, something he has been considering for a while after throwing his hat in the ring for the South African competition.

When that failed to go ahead, Rangpur put in an offer for Yorkshire's leading NatWest T20 Blast run-scorer and he is excited about the opportunity.

Lyth said: "I'm really looking forward to it. It's a new challenge, meeting new people and playing for a new team.

"It's my first experience of something like this, so it will be really interesting to see how different it is to our competition at home.

"We've got some fantastic players, both locals and overseas, so it will be tough to get in the team (which includes Gayle and McCullum).

"But hopefully I can do and enjoy some success, both as a team and individually."

Lyth impressed in the short format over the summer, hitting a record-breaking 161 against Northamptonshire on his way to a fourth-placed finish in the run-scorers' list.

He is hoping to continue that form in Asia in what he sees as another chance to impress the England set-up.

The 30-year-old batsman has not played for his country since featuring in seven Tests during the 2015 Ashes series.

Lyth said: "My aspirations of playing for England have never gone away. I want to play again and this might be another opportunity for it to come about.

"It's a short career and these opportunities don't come up all the time. I'll give it a crack and see how it goes.

"You just don't know what doors it might open in the future. If you do well in this competition, there's people playing all around the world in T20 leagues. It's something I'm quite keen on.

"Yorkshire obviously comes first but if I'm not doing anything internationally in the winter, which I'm not at the minute, then these things are options. Hopefully this is the start of something."

Lyth was to be joined by Yorkshire team-mate David Willey in Rangpur but the new father has since pulled out of the competition.

He will see a familiar face among his opponents though, with Liam Plunkett having been selected by Sylhet Sixers.

The two will meet on November 20 and 28 and Lyth is looking for to it.

He said: "I spoke to Liam a few days ago and we had a laugh and joke about it all. It will be nice to face him and get one over on him."

The competition starts on Saturday with Rangpur taking on Rajshahi Kings, who boast England internationals Samit Patel and Luke Wright.

England-based quartet Joe Denly, Ross Whiteley, Liam Dawson, Jos Buttler will also be competing in the tournament.