IT was only four seasons ago Bathurst and Orange went their separate ways and the Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket competition was disbanded.

Now Orange District Cricket Association secretary Peter Jarick is keen to see if players want the competition to return.

Before the 2007/08 season, Bathurst teams Bathurst City, ORC and Rugby Union decided to pull out of the competition when Kinross nominated to be included as Orange’s sixth team.

Since then the clubs have played for their respective town titles while the BOIDC Cup has gone uncontested.

There are six weeks left in the Orange first grade season and Jarick is thinking ahead to 2010-11 and believes the BOIDC could return.

“Me and (ODCA president Mark Frecklington) have spoken about it,” Jarick said.

“We just think we should explore our options for next season.”

While each competition has its own strengths, Jarick believes combining them would make the sides even stronger and raise the standard.

Orange currently has six teams in the first grade competition and they contest both one-day and two-day matches.

When Bathurst withdrew from the BOIDC competition they also pulled out of the Royal Hotel Cup (formerly Bonnor Cup).

Since then, the day-night competition has become a part of the Orange first grade season.

Jarick admits he hasn’t spoken to Bathurst representatives about the idea.

“They may not want to play (Bathurst),” he said.

“There’s a couple of new sides in the Bathurst comp. They may just want to keep going the way we are.

“I don’t play the game any more so maybe I’m way off the mark.

“I think we should get it back to full strength. Let’s play for the BOIDC Cup again rather than just our respective town competitions.”