Cricket Australia is considering growing the tournament to eight teams by the 2011-12 season and Canberra is shaping as a candidate.

Speaking at the Prime Minister's XI match on Thursday, Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said an ACT team would definitely be considered.

''There's absolutely no reason why Canberra can't put it's best foot forward and stake its claim to have one of those expansion teams,'' Sutherland said.

''Our plans are quite extensive and advanced in terms of looking at how we can grow the national competition for Twenty20.

''Over the next few months the Cricket Australia board will be considering a number of recommendations about how this competition might be expanded and built so that the public's interest in, and access to Twenty20 cricket can only get bigger.''

Should Canberra enter the Big Bash it would return to top-level domestic cricket for the first time since the Comets dropped out of the Mercantile Mutual Cup in 2000.

The Comets have since played in the second-tier state competition.

Cricket ACT chief executive Mark Vergano said there were several reasons why Canberra would be an ideal location for the country's next Big Bash team. ''There's a track record of producing good players, a ground that is certainly up to first-class standard,'' Vergano said.

For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times