The Lightning won the 2016-17 Orange District Cricket Association-run Twenty20 tournament with a brilliant grand final outing against Orange City, but then lost seven players the following season.

The bulk of those guys – think Chris Redding, Ryan Gurney, Josh Howarth and Dallas Tilley - went on to play with Centennials Bulls in the BDCA and, again, ahead of this summer the Lithgow association rep side lost more players, again to the Bathurst club.

Howarth has returned to Lithgow and will be a key figure in the Lightning’s run at this year’s title, but that didn’t stop Sheehan from having a bit of a dig at the Bulls, a side currently sitting third in pool B of the Royal Hotel Cup.

“We’re a feeder club for them,” Sheehan joked.

“But I’m always confident in our team and there’s always someone to come into their place. We made finals despite missing seven players last year so we’ve got the guys to step in.

“We bat pretty deep and and bowl well. We’re more than competitive.”

Sheehan’s Lightning outfit proved that in its only Royal Hotel Cup game this campaign, knocking off Kinross by eight wickets.

Lithgow will play the winless Centrals on Wednesday night, a win ensuring the former ODCA Twenty20 champions keep in touch will pool A pace setters St Pat’s Old Boys and Orange City.

Both of those sides are undefeated after beating Kinross and Centrals.

Sheehan says beating the teams below them on the ladder is imperative if the Lightning is to again figure in finals calculations.

“We’ve had good wins over Centrals in previous years. We know their batting and bowling and if we hold our catches we’ll give ourselves a chance,” he said.

Last year’s tearaway Pat Lawrence won’t be back for Lithgow this season, the Sydney grade cricketer not eligible this season under the Royal Hotel Cup’s marquee player rule because he’s not originally from Lithgow.

Wednesday’s Royal Hotel Cup game starts at 6.30pm at Wade Park.

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