But first it has to get past the arch enemy: Canterbury.
Otago emphatically won a virtual twenty/20 shoot-out against Auckland on the Eden Park Outer Oval yesterday, winning by 42 runs after an outstanding innings by captain Craig Cumming.
The win secured the Volts a home final at the University Oval next Sunday.
Going into the game, Otago and Auckland were level on points, with the winner set to host the final.
Otago duly did the job and, by beating Auckland by such a convincing margin, it did a favour for Canterbury, which finished second and qualified for the final ahead of Auckland after beating Central Districts at Palmerston North yesterday.
Cumming compiled a majestic 76, off just 46 balls, hitting six fours and also going over the boundary five times.
His knock steered Otago through to 163 for eight off its 20 overs.
Many thought that total might not have been enough, but once Auckland lost three wickets with as many runs on the board, Otago was always looking likely.
When danger batsman Martin Guptill went, the Auckland white flag was flown.
Otago coach Mike Hesson acknowledged Cumming's performance after the game, and said his captain had batted well on what was a difficult pitch.
"Craig worked really hard. It was not an easy pitch to bat on, quite grippy to play shots on," Hesson said.
"After we batted we thought 160 would be a hard score to chase. When we had them three down cheaply they were always going to be on the back foot."
Brendon McCullum scored 26 at the top of the innings but got out just as he looked threatening.
Otago's batting depth was shown by the team making experienced batsman Greg Todd 12th man.
The wickets were shared around but Mat Harvie took two key scalps in one over at the start of the Auckland innings, including that of Black Cap Scott Styris, who had a forgettable match.
Hesson said the side had been in good form for the past two months and desperately wanted to win yesterday to get a home final and play in front of its fans.
"At the start of the season we had one or possibly two Black Caps in our side. Now we've got six and guys are scoring runs and playing well."
Players would have the next two days off before regrouping on Wednesday.
Otago will have a full-strength side when it plays Canterbury, with all its internationals available.
The Volts beat Canterbury by 30 runs at the University Oval on February 4 in the first round of the twenty/20 competition.
If Otago wins the final next weekend, it is expected to be invited to the multimillion-dollar twenty/20 Champions League to be played in India in October.
The 12 team league is expected to have a prize money of $US6 million ($NZ11.5 million).
Hesson has consistently said the talk of the Indian money is not a motivating factor in his team's wanting to win the twenty/20 competition.
