At the crease with Boeta Dippenaar

The curtain comes down on the Momentum One Day Cup at the biggest stage in South African cricket, the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Friday evening. The stage is set and the cast members are polishing off their acts in preparation for one last grand performance, which will have one set of fans dancing for joy, while another will head home, thinking, "how close we came!".

One can say that the two strongest teams have made it to the grand finale, with the bizhub Highveld Lions being the most consistent of teams while the defending champions, the Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras, have made a strong surge towards the final.

Looking at the Lions, coach Geoffrey Toyana has blended youth and experience extremely well this season. Neil McKenzie has been a solid rock for the Johannesburg based franchise, scoring 266 runs thus far at an average of 66.50, while the young Lions wicketkeeper, Quinton de Kock, has burst onto the scene this year, scoring 262 runs at a run-a-ball, at a well balanced average of 32.75.

The Lions captain, Stephen Cook, has led from the front for his team, compiling 427 runs at an average of 61.00 while Zander de Bruyn and Gulam Bodi have contributed to the Lions cause.

One of the biggest success stories this season for the hosts, has been the new-ball pairing of Hardus Viljoen and Chris Morris. When both have operated with the new ball, bowling in excess of 140km/h, the Lions have been devastating, crippling top orders left, right and centre. Added to this mix has been the steady slow left-arm orthodox bowling of Aaron Phangiso. The 28-year old from Garankuwa has only conceded 4.38 runs per over in this campaign, carrying his form over from the Champions League T20.

Success in the limited overs format has been hard to come by for the men north of the Vaal river. They have only claimed three titles in 20 years, the last being nine years ago, in the 2003-2004 season. But Toyana has unlocked an enjoyment factor within his team that has been lacking in the past. The players seem to play with passion and pride, not only for their franchise but for each other.

The Cobras on the other hand have had a solid season, without being spectacular. The men from Cape Town started off the defence of their title with a fortuitous win over the Sunfoil Dolphins but then fell away with three consecutive defeats. A few factors could be pointed at, such as the form of Richard Levi, Stiaan val Zyl and Yaseen Vallie, as well as the fact that the Cobras lacked partnerships earlier on in their campaign.

Richard Levi's form at the beginning of the campaign stuttered, getting starts and then getting out. But since he started getting past 50, the Cobras seemed to click. I have always been a fan of the left-handed Stiaan van Zyl. The 25-year old has always been steady, not explosive, like Levi, but a batsman that you can always count on to steady the ship and get you out of trouble, something he has done a few times this season for the men in blue.

The Cobras have a man in the middle-order that can rotate the strike well, someone who has grown to handle the pressure at key stages during the tournament. Yaseen Vallie has impressed me a lot this season, he is a compact player who has all the shots in the book.

The returning Proteas have bolstered the Cobras for the play-off's, as was seen on Sunday against the Nashua Titans when Dale Steyn claimed five wickets. The title is theirs to lose when comparing the teams on paper, but then again, cricket is a funny old game which is not played on paper.

The Proteas are back in action next week with the arrival of the touring New Zealand side. The men in green play three T20 internationals, three ODI's and two test matches. 

The New Zealand series opens a new chapter within South African cricket, with the appointment of Russell Domingo as coach of the Proteas T20 side, thus allowing Gary Kirsten more time to focus on the test and ODI sides, although Kirsten will still retain overall accountability of all the squads.

Domingo was coach of the Warriors prior to his appointment as assistant coach to Gary Kirsten, and guided the Eastern Cape team to their first trophy of the franchise system in 2009-2010.

With South Africa having achieved their two main targets of overcoming England and Australia, both away from home, the New Zealand series seems to be a bit of an anti-climax. Perhaps this would a good time to expand the experience base of South African cricket with regards to International cricket.

We have already seen the impact that Faf du Plessis made against Australia when he replaced the injured JP Duminy. A fantastic rearguard action by Faf in the second test was followed up with a match winning contribution in the third test in Perth. Dean Elgar was unfortunate to make a pair in his debut test, but must be given the opportunity to establish himself and the New Zealand series is the perfect place to start.

Elgar should not lose heart as he shares the 'honour' with the likes of Sri Lanka's Marvan Atapattu, Saeed Anwar of Pakistan, Graham Gooch from England as well as New Zealand's own Ken Rutherford.

One should not forget that South Africa's own Jacques Kallis had an extremely slow start to his career, having only one double figure knock in ten starts.

The Proteas management will want to continue the momentum gained from the England and Australian tours, and this can only be done with utter and total domination of the touring New Zealanders. This has to underlined with the fact that the Black Caps will be without their talismatic spinner, Daniel Vittori as well as the controversy surrounding the 'sacking' of their captain, Ross Taylor. The effect of this fall-out has resulted in Taylor withdrawing himself from the tour, with Brendan McCullum taking over the captaincy.

In conclusion, the Proteas will not need any more motivation to dominate the tourists than by playing in front of their own fans for the first time since January this year when they completed a 2-1 test series victory over Sri Lanka. Although the Proteas did play a once-off T20 International against India in March.