Bevon Jacobs smashed the highest score for Auckland in the Ford Trophy but his unbeaten 202 was not enough as Otago chased down a target of 335 with five deliveries and five wickets to spare.
This year's domestic 50-over tournament in New Zealand has particular significance given they are trialing just one ball for the entire innings. At the international area, teams have two new balls until the 35th over when they pick just one and go ahead.
Reverting to the old ways was an effort to redress the balance between bat and ball and bring back reverse swing, but in the fifth and final round of matches with this rule, Jacobs smashed 21 sixes - only two shy of the List A record held by Australia's D'Arcy Short. He was 172 not out at the start of the final over, from legspinner Zak Cumming, and converted by hitting five of the six remaining deliveries out of Eden Park's Outer Oval.
This was Jacobs' third match back with his domestic team since he played the T20Is for New Zealand against India. He already had a fifty to his name and now adds the highest score by an Auckland batter, displacing Colin Munro who made 174 not out in the 2017-18 season.
A tall man with an affinity to use his long levers and access the boundaries in front of the wicket, Jacobs has been touted for a big future. At the start of the year, he hit five fifties in a row in T20 cricket. Only Afghanistan's Sediquallah Atal (6) and India's Riyan Parag (7) have managed a hotter streak.
Friday's innings was Jacobs' first century in 33 List A matches. He came in to bat with Auckland in trouble at 24 for 2 in the sixth over and then kept stumbling. Only four of his team-mates were able to get into double-digits, Lachlan Stackpole being the best of them with 46 off 45.
Otago's batting pulled together a little better with three of their top five scoring fifties. Jack Boyle made 62 off 61 at the top of the order and the up-and-coming wicketketter-batter Max Chu hit 75 off 55, including the winning boundary.
Jacobs' 202 not out is the third double-century in the Ford Trophy, and the fourth across all List A tournaments around the world to end in defeat. The most recent record-breaker to suffer this was England captain Harry Brook, who also made 202 but could only watch as Sri Lanka chased down 430. Ben Dunk (229* for Tasmania against Queensland in 2014) and Swastik Samal (212 for Odisha against Saurashtra in 2025) round out the list.