Cricket: Auckland womens team's focus unchanged

Auckland coach Wally Stamp believes that business as usual is the key to his unbeaten side winning the women's one-day title for the third consecutive time at Eden Park tomorrow.

Defending champions Auckland have performed strongly all round over the past three weeks.

"We've looked after our own game and made sure that our focus was on individual performance and our own team standards, rather than the mental application or any other weakness in opposing teams," Stamp said.

"Our approach to the final against Canterbury is exactly the same. It never mattered to us who we'd be playing, because our focus has always been on looking after our own game to the best of our ability."

Stamp expects a good batting track aided by fine weather.

The final will be played on the same pitch used by Auckland in the men's State Shield last month, the side batting first made 275 runs before rain caused an abandonment.

That's good news for Auckland's star batsman Emily Drumm, who is in peak form coming off an outstanding century against Northern Spirit last Saturday.

Auckland's bowling lineup has also dominated the competition, with Debbie Ramsay leading the attack, having taken 14 wickets at 10.92.

Ramsay will be playing her first final tomorrow after a finger injury kept her out of last season's final.

Meanwhile, Canterbury captain Paula Flannery says her players are determined to lift their game for the most important match of the women's season.

Left-arm pace bowler, Rebecca Steele, also with 14 wickets at 10.85, has topped the round-robin bowling statistics. She is a bright prospect at just 17.

The star-studded Canterbury top order has been slow to come into form and were frustrated by a rain-affected summer.

But Flannery said the team felt like they had been given a second life when they found out last Sunday that they had just scraped into the final.

"We think the Aucklanders have had the title long enough and we're going to throw everything at them," she said.

"Everyone's keen to prove that we can pull a victory out of the bag on the day that matters - and we do have a few key players who have been in a number of finals, so we can handle the pressure."

Auckland: Kathryn Ramel (capt), Ingrid Cronin Knight, Emily Drumm, Paula Gruber, Kelly Hill, Elfrieda Komp, Michelle Lynch, Debbie Ramsay, Rebecca Rolls, Natalee Scripps, Megan Tyler, Helen Watson.

Canterbury: Paula Flannery (capt), Delwyn Brownlee, Sarah Burke, Kirsty Craig, Helen Daly, Maria Fahey, Beth McNeill, Nicola Payne, Hannah Rae, Rebecca Steele, Haidee Tiffen, Emily Travers.

- NZPA