One of the greatest seasons in the history of women's cricket in New Zealand reaches its finale tomorrow with the final of the State Insurance Cup at the Village Green at Queen Elizabeth II Park in Christchurch..

Regular rivals in the women's game, Canterbury and Auckland will do battle for the title of New Zealand's champion province.

Canterbury finished the top qualifier in the series which has been played on the back of New Zealand's winning of the CricInfo Women's World cup.

Auckland are the defending champions and, ominously for Canterbury, have hit their best form in the latter stages of the competition.

Auckland fields several members of the World Cup-winning CLEAR White Ferns while Canterbury has made the final without its retiring members of the side, Debbie Hockley, Catherine Campbell and Katrina Keenan.

They have the potential to push Auckland really hard which is what this competition has been about.

National selection convener Lesley Murdoch said she was looking forward to the match after one of the most competitive women's series for several years.

"There have been more than two teams in it. The emergence of Central Districts has been exciting and they were in the competition up until the last match. They are a very young side and that is good for our game," he said.

The final is the perfect opportunity for the selectors to assess how the contenders to replace the retiring international players shape up under the pressure of a final situation.

Murdoch said the development in the women's game, not only as the result of the World Cup win, but through the age groups has been exciting..

"I think the Under-21 tournament was a revelation for the quality of young players with their good skill levels and cricket nous which hasn't always been the case at that age. And the qualities were there right through all the sides," she said.

The New Zealand players had been slow to emerge after the high of the World Cup and coming back after that had been a hard ask for some of the players.

Players like Canterbury's Haidee Tiffen had gone straight from the world tournament to the national Under-21 tournament and then into the SIC.

Others like New Zealand captain Emily Drumm took a long time to hit their best form but she has peaked at the right time.

"The emergence of quite a few young players has been making it hard for us as selectors but that is a good thing. What has been impressive is the style of play of these young players.

"The are striking the ball well, they are athletic in the field but the concern is the bowling and the number of wides for teams," she said.

"But the competition is definitely more competitive and how long has it been since teams have been hitting 249 and losing?"

Murdoch said the qualities of coaching are starting to come through and with several of the retired New Zealand players holding Level III coaching qualifications it could be expected that in five or six years some of them could be on the provincial coaching scene.

Umpires for tomorrow's match which starts at 11am are Kathy Cross and Brent Bowden.

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