Dandenong District Cricket Association president Michael Hawking has touted Twenty20 games being played for premiership points as part of the main seniors fixture, and a corresponding junior competition.
With 2009-10 shaping up as a record season for the number of teams and players, Hawking provided an insight into the future of the competition and envisaged an increased emphasis on the short version of the game at the local and elite level.
"Cricket at the top level is more about entertainment than cricket in the traditional sense. Over the next few years, there will be more Twenty20 cricket played than possibly anything else. That's where the dollars are, that's where the corporate world wants to put their money.
"They want to invest in sports that people are attracted to and Twenty20 is that vehicle for cricket. It has already become cricket's cash cow."
Hawking said that, from a DDCA perspective, the game was in good health.
"But maybe there are changes we may have to look at down the track concerning Twenty20. We've got a separate Twenty20 senior competition that has been successful, but we may have to think about integrating it into our senior competition for points, and introduce it into our junior competition as well .
"That's the way Cricket Victoria and Cricket Australia wants the game to go. They want more of the shortened version of the game because it attracts more participants and more people to watch it at the elite level."
Hawking said the game was thriving locally, with an increase in junior numbers, and the future of some Dandenong clubs struggling for juniors was not all "doom and gloom.
"Casey is obviously providing us with the majority of our juniors, but some of the Dandenong clubs will field an increased number in juniors this year. They are meeting the challenges and are maintaining healthy senior numbers and working hard to ensure their longevity."
On the contentious issue of the salary cap, Hawking conceded that some clubs may have breached it.
"You and I know and everyone probably else knows [of alleged salary cap breaches]. A player points system compromises your ability to pay a lot of players and restricts the type and number of players you can recruit.
"Because it is an easy system to compromise, you have to seek alternatives.
"We have always been criticised for not policing the salary cap and for not doing anything about it, but finding a solution can be difficult. There are so many ways to circumvent it. Proving that a club has exceeded the cap is almost impossible."
Hawking said a "first model" of the proposed player point system was expected to be tabled and put up for discussion with the clubs early next month.
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