A rather unusual decision to insert the opposition on a historically docile pitch yesterday appeared to rebound spectacularly for the Volts, as they spent a long and mostly painful day on the field.
Auckland, relishing the conditions at the Eden Park Outer Oval, rocketed to 343 for three and seemed to have taken control of the game.
But Otago got just a sniff of a fightback in the final hour, as three home wickets tumbled for 20 runs, though at 400 for seven, and with maximum batting bonus points, Auckland will be more than happy.
Otago will still need to find more wickets as soon as possible this morning - though the Aces may declare overnight - and then settle in to bat for a long time.
The star turns yesterday were provided by two men with that most un-starry of names, Colin. Black Caps twenty20 specialist Colin Munro and Colin de Grandhomme combined for a fourth-wicket partnership of 193 that put paid to any Otago hopes of restricting the home side to a modest total.
Munro was the aggressor. He reached 50 off 55 balls, then used just 41 more balls to reach his fifth first-class century.
Munro pushed on to 150, off 137 balls, and by the time he was out for 156, one of Neil Wagner's three victims, he had whacked 22 fours and four sixes.
At the other end, de Grandhomme was more measured but played a valuable hand with 83 off 107 balls.
Wagner removed both Colins, and Jabob Duffy snared a morale-boosting wicket, that of Gareth Hopkins, to give Auckland a minor case of the speed wobbles.
Earlier, Anaru Kitchen had chipped in a useful 64 to get Auckland off to a solid start, while Jeet Raval fell for 22 to give Otago's Brad Rodden a maiden first-class wicket.
Rodden, playing just his second game for Otago, later claimed a second, though he would probably trade it for some runs today or tomorrow.
Otago made Blair Soper 12th man and fielded two spinners, but the tactic did not pay immediate dividends. Mark Craig and Nick Beard combined to concede 117 runs in 21 wicketless overs.
Elsewhere, a century from another batsman on the fringes of the New Zealand setup saw Northern Districts take a similarly commanding position against Canterbury in Gisborne.
Daniel Flynn's 16th first class ton helped ND recover from the loss of Brad Wilson in the opening over and validated his own decision to bat at Harry Barker Reserve.
Flynn put on 144 with Joe Carter (64) for the second wicket before Andrew Ellis (four for 70) tore through the host's middle order and left it in the unconvincing position of 228 for six.
But Bharat Popli and Mitchell Santner - a pair with fewer than 10 games' first class experience between them - combined to advance their side to 341 for six at stumps, with both men making unbeaten half centuries.
Wickets tumbled at McLean Park in Napier, where Central Districts used the conditions to its advantage against Wellington yesterday, rolling the second-placed visitor for 172 in 51 overs, after it elected to bat first.
Kieran Noema-Barnett, Doug Bracewell and Bevan Small combined for all 10 wickets.
In reply, CD reached 103 for five at stumps.
