Following the under-13 carnival last week, the boys' and girls' under-15 carnivals will be played side by side across Orange this week.

Western girls' coordinator Andrew Litchfield said it was great the western zone was able to put together a second side, which was crucial for growth of the girls' game.

"For younger kids it's fine to play mixed but once you start getting to 12 or 13 it's good to play just against other girls," he said.

"In the bush where they're not as many players it's a bigger challenge to get things like this up and running so it's so valuable."

Litchfield said the work put in by the Orange District Junior Cricket Association was monumental, and went a long way, with the two western teams this year doing nothing but good things for the game.

"It's especially hard this time of year at short notice with families away and players in other tournaments around the state and the country," he said.

"We've had two sides before, often it'll come down to if we have an odd or even number of teams sign on as to how many teams we had.

"This year we had five so we added the second western side... from a squad of about 24 or 25."

Western will be without 2019 skipper Amy Kreuzberger, whose all-round performance in last year's final was crucial in the side's success, but Kreuzberger's co-captain from last year Katie Letcher will be back in 2020, while Bathurst's Chloe Stapleton - who currently plays with the Rugby Union side - will lead the Western Blue outfit.

While Western won't be at full strength, with several players training with NSW Country's under 15s side, Litchfield is still expecting the sides to be competitive while defending their crown.

He said Hannah Knight, Chloe Stapleton and Amali McNeil were senior players he expected to stand up, while some of the younger talent like Maddie Spence - who was instrumental in Western's final last year - and Callee Black had shown they were capable of being key cogs in their respective sides.

Western Red begin its campaign against Penrith at the John Sharpe Oval at Kinross, while Western Blue takes on Parramatta in Molong.

Gordon will clash with Manly-Warringah on the main oval at Kinross Wolaroi School. All games begin at 10am.