The sure-fire way to tell cricket season has begun is to watch the skies for darkening clouds and rain.
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For Orange's under 16s, cricket season officially began at the mid-way point of their third trial match against Western Suburbs as the heavens opened and sent rain crashing down.
However, the weekend's matches - with two Twenty20 matches on Monday followed by the washed out Tuesday clash - were both a strong start to the season and a continuation of what's fast becoming a strong relationship between Wests and Orange.
This year marked the second time the Sydney Green Shield side has made its way out west, and with a shield or trophy likely on the way next year, it looks like the pre-season hit outs - with Wests preparing for the Shield and Orange preparing for their western representative season - will continue.
The two sides shared spoils this year, with Wests claiming the first T20 and Orange the second on the back of a phenomenal unbeaten 72 from gun opener Blake Weymouth, who looks to have picked up where he left off at the end of a gangbusters season 2018-19.
Wests claimed the opening blow of the tour in the first T20 on Monday morning hitting 4-119 off the back of 40 from Ethan Simpson and a painful 21 sundries from Orange's bowlers before their batters collapsed in response.
Luke Hunter top-scored with an unbeaten 28, but the side could only manage 72 from their 20 overs after being 5-15 after eight overs.
However, the locals flipped the tables on Wests in the thrilling second game, with Weymouth's half-ton propelling them to 2-129, which Orange defended by the skin of their teeth - securing a one-run win.
Wests finished on 6-128 with Hunter and Weymouth combining for three run-outs between them, with Dev Adhikari swapping sides and taking 1-10 from three overs against his side.
Adhikari switched back for Thursday's half-game, where only Orange snuck in a bat before the heavens opened, to take 4-26 from four overs as Orange capitulated to be all-out for 102 after 43 overs, with Weymouth, Murphy and Hunter the only bats to score more than 10.
Coach Dave Cumming said it was a good experience for both sides to blow out some cobwebs and for Orange to test themselves against a Sydney side.
"Wests' trial games are all against other Green Shield sides and they like the chance to come away and play with some of the country boys," Cumming said.
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