Otago walloped a record 249 for three against Central Districts at Pukekura Park last night but should have lost.
Former Sri Lankan international Mahela Jayawardene played a brilliant hand for the Stags, pummelling 116 from 56 deliveries. But he holed out during the penultimate over leaving the door ever so slightly ajar.
The Stags needed a further 21 runs to win from 11 balls and it should have been a cakewalk with seven wickets in hand, tremendously small boundaries and against a bowling attack which had been flogged.
But Neil Wagner is a tenacious character and he produced a wonderful last over.
Tom Bruce (61 from 29) had been hitting the ball so crisply but got off strike. That left Dane Cleaver needing two to win from the last ball and he could not find the gap.
He tried to scramble a single to force a super over but was run out at the bowler's end in a dramatic finish to a marvellous game.
Otago dropped Jayawardene twice and could have bowled a lot better, Volts coach Rob Walter said.
''It certainly wasn't our best bowling performance but at the same time we also scored 250 today, so we don't want to be too hyper-critical,'' he said.
''I just thought that Jimmy Neesham and Neil Wagner stood up and really delivered under pressure in those last two overs.''
Earlier, Otago captain Hamish Rutherford had a devastating impact on the game. The 27-year-old left-hander blasted his first century in the format, racking up 106 from just 50 deliveries to help set up the platform for the one-run win.
He went very close to wiping Jamie How's record for the fastest New Zealand domestic twenty20 hundred from the record book.
How scored his 100 from 45 balls against Wellington at the same venue in 2012. Rutherford took an extra delivery to reach the milestone.
In all, he clouted eight sixes and nine fours. It has to be said the venue is one of the smaller around the country. But plenty of batsmen have perished thinking the boundary appeared closer than it actually was.
Rutherford combined with Anaru Kitchen (54 from 33) in a remarkable opening stand. The pair had smashed 130 runs from 66 deliveries when Kitchen was bowled, looking to sweep away another big shot.
Neil Broom kept the momentum going with an undefeated 42 from 24 deliveries.
The total eclipsed the 242 for four Otago posted during a Champions League match against Perth Scorchers in Jaipur in 2013.
It also surpassed the previous highest New Zealand domestic twenty20 innings of 229 for three, scored by Auckland against Wellington in 2009-10, and is the seventh-highest total in twenty20 history.
The Royal Challenges Bangalore and Australia share top billing. They both posted mammoth scores of 263.
None of that seemed to register with the home team which started the innings with the absolute belief it could run down the colossal score.
Wagner got smashed for 19 runs in the opening over as George Worker and Jayawardene attacked the target.
Worker's dismissal for 35 from 20 deliveries provided scant relief for the Otago bowlers who were under siege. A perverse combination of small boundaries and big bats will have the bowlers booking extra therapy sessions.
Central had reached 108 for two at the halfway point. Otago was 125 for none at the same stage but that advantage was quickly eroded when Jayawardene helped plunder 27 off Warren Barnes' third over.
Bradley Scott conceded 18 in the next over and suddenly the impossible seemed very plausible.
Neesham returned to the bowling crease for the 14th over and provided the Volts with six boundary-free deliveries. But the game was slipping way.
Bruce slapped five sixes and a four from his first 15 balls and his side had the winning of the game.
But there was a twist waiting. Neesham returned for the second-last over and Jayawardene promptly clipped a delivery to Rutherford at midwicket.
That changed everything.
Otago's next assignment is against Canterbury at Hagley Oval tomorrow.
