Auckland coach Wally Stamp believes that "business as usual" is the key to his unbeaten side winning a historic State League "three-peat" on Sunday at Eden Park's Outer Oval.

Auckland, the defending champions, have performed strongly in all key areas of the game 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," he said.

"Our approach to the final 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 is expecting a good batting track aided by a fine weather forecast. The final will be played on the same pitch used by Auckland in the men's State Shield earlier this month in which the side batting first made 275 runs before rain caused an abandonment.

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

Auckland's bowling line-up has also dominated the competition with Debbie Ramsay leading the attack, 14 wickets at 10.92. Ramsay will be playing her first final on Sunday 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.

Seventeen-year-old left-arm pace bowler, Rebecca Steele, 14 wickets at 10.85, has topped the round-robin bowling statistics.

The star-studded Cantabrian top order has been slow to come into form and further frustrated by a rain-affected summer, but Flannery said the team felt like it 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," says Flannery.

"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."

Six of this year's CLEAR White Ferns are involved in the final, plus New Zealand 'A' captain and recent White Fern Emily Travers. This is the last opportunity to see members of the world champions in action before their imminent 2000 CricInfo Women's World Cup final re-match with beaten finalists Australia in a home-and-away series beginning next month.

Auckland are the defending champions and are unbeaten this summer. They have played 10 matches for eight wins and two no results. Before winning the 1999/00 State League final, the Auckland had not won the women's competition in 26 years.

The Canterbury have played 10 matches this summer for five wins, three losses and two no results.

The State Canterbury Magicians required maximum points (including bonus points) from their last two matches to make the final, while State Wellington Blaze needed only one point from their last two matches last weekend, but failed.

The finalists met twice in round-robin play. The winner on both occasions were the State Auckland Hearts, winning by two wickets and then 99 runs. The latter was a record margin against Canterbury. In last summer's final Auckland beat Canterbury by five wickets in Christchurch. The year before that, Auckland defeated Canterbury by six wickets at Eden Park.

Until 1999/00, the Canterbury had been the champion domestic women's cricket side every year for a decade, and had dominated a history of inter-provincial competition that now spans over 60 years.

Admission is free and host association Auckland Cricket is encouraging the public to bring a picnic and support Auckland's most successful team this season.

The teams are:

Auckland: Kathryn Ramel (captain), 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 (captain), Delwyn Brownlee, Sarah Burke, Kirsty Craig, Helen Daly, Maria Fahey, Beth McNeill, Nicola Payne, Hannah Rae, Rebecca Steele, Haidee Tiffen, Emily Travers.

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