Cricket ACT admits it is disappointed a Canberra-based team has missed out on inclusion as the seventh side in the national one-day competition.
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Cricket Australia announced on Tuesday that a new team called the CA XI will join the Matador Cup on a two-year trial.
The squad be based at the national cricket centre in Brisbane under the guidance of the centre's head coach Troy Cooley.
The announcement effectively ends any chance of the ACT Comets being readmitted to the competition after they were kicked out 15 years ago.
Cricket ACT chairman Ian McNamee backed Cricket Australia's decision in opening an avenue for the country's most promising cricketers to be exposed to a higher level of competition.
"We are disappointed that it's not a Canberra team because it's something that I was close to when it happened 15 years ago," McNamee said.
"We have been putting a case forward for a Canberra-based team.
"But having said that, we fully support the move and we would expect that included in that team would be players who have come through the Canberra system."
Those could include the likes of former Queanbeyan captain Aaron Ayre, who is on a rookie contract with Victoria, and promising left-arm paceman Nick Winter, who debuted with South Australia last summer.
The CA XI will be chosen by state talent managers and will be guided by the national selection panel, with an eye to fast tracking the development of promising players.
Each state will pick a 15-player squad, with those who have missed the cut then eligible for selection in the CA XI squad.
The Comets will continue to play in an expanded Futures League, which has been increased from four rounds to six.
The Futures League features second XI teams from the six state associations and a combined ACT/NSW Country team.
Only a handful of players from the Canberra first-grade competition were included in the Comets team last season.
The rest were players with either country NSW or Canberra backgrounds who play in the Sydney competition.
McNamee believes the expansion of the Futures League will lead to an increase in standard for the Canberra grade competition.
"I expect there will be an influx of players coming to Canberra wanting to get into the Comets team to advance their careers," McNamee said.
"Already we're getting more players from the under-17 and under-19 championship teams.
"We expect the grade competition to be strengthened in the coming season.
