Two teams are set to be cut from the region's T20 competition in 2022/23 with the committee in charge keen to make it a ten team competition.
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The Orange District Cricket Association held its first ordinary meeting of the season on Wednesday night.
During discussions, it was revealed that the plan for the Royal Hotel Cup - also know as the Bonnor Cup - was to make it a 10 team competition and that Kinross and Lithgow were the most likely teams to miss out.
Mark Frecklington - who earlier in the night was voted back in as ODCA president during the annual general meeting - said it was about going back to a ten team competition.
"The 12 teams just makes it difficult to fit it in," he said.
"We had to use a lot of Sundays when teams don't really want to play. So part of the reason of going back to a ten team comp is to make it more manageable."
The 2021/22 competition featured two groups of six teams, with the top two from each advancing to the semi-finals. This meant that each side played a minimum of five T20 games. The last time the competition featured exactly ten teams was during the 2014/15 season.
Under the new proposal, teams would be split into groups of five, with four games each as a minimum.
Frecklington said at the end of the day, no sides were "guaranteed anything" when it came to the T20 competition.
"The reason that (Lithgow and Kinross) are the two suggested teams is that we wanted to stick with the ten BOIDC first grade sides, which is the preference. We want it to be the strongest comp it could be," he said.
"That's assuming that all ten first grade sides want to play in the comp. If there was a team who said they didn't want to play, then that would open the door for Kinross or Lithgow."
Club challenge on the cards?
Another proposal that was thrown out during the meeting was the prospect of a knock-out competition featuring a maximum of 16 teams from across the Central West.
Frecklington said that while the preference would be for the competition to feature club sides from Dubbo, Bathurst and Orange, the committee would be open to other sides such as Molong, Cowra or Parkes to slot in.
"It was seen as an opportunity for the guys in Bathurst in Orange who don't get to play against the guys in Dubbo to give them something a bit different," he said.
"Where it goes is really dependent on the clubs. I've spoken to the five associations that were in Premier League last year and they're all thinking about it and now is the time to start promoting it as something we're looking at."
If the competition were to go ahead, it would more than likely feature either 40-over or 50-over matches, rather than be another T20 league.
Changes to Western Zone Premier League
It was also noted during the meeting that discussions were ongoing regarding reducing the number of teams in the Western Zone Premier League from five to four.
The main option that was discussed would see the league feature Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and a combined Lachlan side featuring players from both Cowra and Parkes. The idea was that teams would play each other once across October and November, with a final to be played on February 5.
"It was about getting a four team comp that you could actually play before we selected the Western Zone side (for the Country Championships starting in November with a final in December)," Frecklington added.
"We are also acutely aware that Cowra were struggling with numbers last year. It was about trying to make those matches as strong as they can.
"Whether it's a Lachlan team or a Parkes team on its own, nothing is locked in and that's something that they're looking at now."
As for the ODCA itself, the plan is for second grade to revert back to 40 over games and start at 1pm, a change from the 45 over matches and 12.30pm start which was the case in the previous season. This would be the same for third grade. The aim is for the competition to start on October 8 with grand finals slated for Match 25.
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