Anaru Kitchen led an all out assault on the Northern Districts attack, clobbering an undefeated 143 from 85 deliveries to help the Volts overhaul Northern Districts' total of 288 for six with more than 15 overs to spare.
He reached his fourth one-day hundred from just 59 deliveries - the third quickest in New Zealand domestic cricket. Only New Zealand cricket heavyweights Brendon McCullum (52 balls) and Stephen Fleming (54 balls) have scored faster tons.
While it was a wonderful exhibition of clean hitting, it was also all a bit of a sideshow. Otago went into the match with only a remote chance of slipping into the playoffs.
The Volts did not play well enough earlier in the competition, but did complete a disappointing campaign with three wins from its last four games.
And Kitchen, well, he threw the kitchen sink at Northern. An Otago batsman has not hit the ball so well for so long since McCullum blasted 170 in the 2007-08 one-day final to help the Volts lift the title.
A lot of the eight sixes Kitchen hit sailed back over the bowler's head. Plenty went towards mid-wicket as well and he baseball-batted a couple of memorable boundaries to long-on.
In all he smited 92 runs in boundaries during a valiant effort to resurrect Otago's dismal net run rate and secure the required bonus point it needed to have any chance of making the playoffs. He passed his previous high score of 131 in the process, but it was in vain.
While the win lifted Otago to 15 points, Northern and Auckland also finished with 15.
Northern secured the playoff spot courtesy of its three bonus points and Auckland avoided the indignity of finishing last thanks to a superior net run rate.
Wellington beat Canterbury by two wickets and topped the standings with 25 points, from Canterbury in second on 19 points. Central Districts (16 points) got up into third place with a seven-wicket win against Auckland.
Kitchen put his remarkable innings down to the mindset the team went into the match with.
''We really wanted to be aggressive and not worry about failure,'' Kitchen said.
''So for us it was a good switch for us to hit.
''We had the backing to go out and express ourselves and play our own game.''
Kitchen has been batting down the order but came in at No 3 yesterday and that gave him the opportunity to get set before launching.
''I managed to get my strike rate up quite high and then it was just a matter of ticking it over and cashing in on the bad balls.''
Kitchen's onslaught meant a painful afternoon for some of Northern Districts' bowlers. Scott Kuggeleijn took one for 95 from 10 overs.
Canterbury's Andrew Ellis has twice conceded 97 runs and is at the top of the list for most expensive bowling.
Black Caps leg-spinner Ish Sodhi got hammered as well, but he did pick up four wickets while bleeding 85 runs.
In stark contrast, Otago left arm leg-spinner Michael Rippon took one for 34 from his 10 overs. His first six overs went for just six runs, but he ran into Daryl Mitchell in his second and third spell.
Mitchell dispatched three sixes and eight fours in an undefeated knock of 72 from 48 deliveries.
Nick Kelly also batted well, posting 67 from 66 deliveries. The pair put on a brief but lucrative partnership, whacking 44 runs from 26 deliveries.
It gave Northern's innings a boost after opener Bharat Popli used up 97 deliveries in his patient innings of 69.
Otago's Jimmy Neesham removed the dangerous Dean Brownlie for 10 and his three for 58 was a solid return. Josh Finnie also played a nice cameo with the bat, striking 32 from 16 balls, including three consecutive sixes.
