"It was the best I've ever batted," he said.

Lithgow's skipper was irresistible with the bat in a Royal Hotel Cup run-frenzy at Wade Park on Friday but despite his swashbuckling, unbeaten knock of 102, his side was run down by a rampant Orange City top order.

Sheehan's 61-ball stunner led the Lightning to a huge 3-163, which looked formidable considering Orange's marquee Twenty20 tournament has favoured sides batting first since changing to the shortest format eight summers ago.

It proved anything but though, incredibly the Warriors cruised home, led by marquee Mick Curtale and a hard-hitting Lachie Coyte they successfully chased with eight wickets and just under four overs left in the bank.

"I thought that 163 was something we could defend, but the top four [batsmen] were red hot," Sheehan said.

"I can't take anything away from them, they played really well."

Motoring along at more than 10 an over throughout their 91-run, second-wicket partnership, Curtale finished unbeaten on 63 while Coyte hammered a 29-ball knock of 51 to inspire the Warriors' win, their second on the trot this season.

"Curtale did his thing and proved how valuable he'll be but Coytey was hitting it so clean. He was on about 20 at one stage and Curtale was almost on 50, but Coytey beat him to a half-ton," Orange City skipper Ed Morrish said.

"It was great to get that kind of win because we probably haven't been a great chasing side in this competition, obviously picking up a second win in a row is really important too, it puts us in a good spot going into our last couple of group games."

Sheehan's ton was actually just the second in the tournament's T20 era, with Stu Middleton's swashbuckling 127 in Cavaliers' semi-final win over CYMS in 2013-14 the first and last, and the chase was the second-highest on record too.

The Lightning hold their record after running down 175 against Bathurst City in 2016-17 and further confirmed Sheehan's status as one of the region's premier short-form bats, his career tally in the Royal Hotel Cup now sits above 500 runs at a ridiculous 50.60.

He does now hold a record as the only player to score a ton in a losing side, though.

"You do feel a bit for Benny because he batted superbly. The biggest thing with Benny is he's not a slogger, he plays good cricket shots and uses the whole field to score really well, he's always dangerous in this form of the game," Morrish said.

"His dig was good enough to watch in itself but you throw in our chase and it was a seriously entertaining game of cricket.

"Admittedly we didn't bowl particularly well and I think Lithgow would say the same thing of themselves, and on a hard, flat wicket with a fast outfield you can't do that in this form of the game.

"I think we might start seeing some big, big scores in this competition for the rest of the summer too."

Sheehan won the toss and batted first, a decision few are used to seeing from the Lightning considering their status as the tournament's best chasing side.

Jon Cronin (9), Kobe Hunter (8) and Andrew Fawbert (9) all ticked it over as Sheehan took the reins, before the latter was joined by Pawan Gagula with the score at 3-82.

They remained unbeaten in adding 81 with the latter chipping in a valuable 24 not out, although Sheehan potentially didn't get as much strike as he'd have liked in the back end of the innings.

Needing a tick over eight-an-hour from the outset Curtale and Shaun Grenfell (26 from 17) went to work early, putting on 50 before the latter was dismissed, bringing Coyte to the crease.

He promptly belted seven fours and an clean-hit six over cover of all places in his 37-minute stint at the crease and while he was eventually bowled by Chris Redding (1-28) the game was over by then.

Nathan Rosser joined Curtale with 23 runs still to get and finished with 16 from seven balls, the pair guiding Orange City home with 23 balls to spare.

The tournament continues when Centennials Bulls face the unbeaten CYMS on Friday evening, the latter can all but assure their finals spot with a victory.

Orange City face CYMS in a battle of the heavyweights before taking on Centrals in their final preliminary game, while Lithgow now face a challenging road to the finals.

They'll take on Bathurst City and Centennials in two all-but must-win fixtures.

"We've won one, lost one now and we've got two tough games coming up," Sheehan said.

"It's a tough road, but I still think we can do it. We've just got to play smart cricket."

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