Neil Broom joined an exclusive club but Otago had the door slammed on its ambitions of finishing the one-day competition at the top of the table.
Broom scored a second consecutive one-day century at Colin Maiden Park yesterday in Otago's crushing seven-wicket loss to Auckland.
The result, and Canterbury's big win over Central Districts, put paid to Otago's hopes of finishing the round robin in pole position.
The Volts drop to third, on 16 points, with Canterbury (21) and Auckland (18) now at the top.
Northern Districts (14) is in the final playoff spot, but could still be caught by Wellington (10) with a round to play.
Central (8) is playing to avoid the wooden spoon.
The Volts travel to Christchurch on Wednesday to play Canterbury, needing to win - and hoping Wellington beats Auckland - to reach the major semifinal.
Otago could tie Canterbury at the top with a bonus-point win, but Canterbury's net run rate is vastly superior, so it would still host the semifinal.
Otago could finish second, third or fourth, depending on the results of Wednesday's final games.
If Otago finishes third, it will host the sudden-death semifinal, probably in Queenstown.
At least, in Broom, it possesses one of the form batsmen of the competition.
Just three days after stroking 123 in the tied game against Northern Districts, Broom bashed an unbeaten 116 (129 balls) against Auckland.
He joined Brendon McCullum, who reached three figures in both the semifinal and final three summers ago, and Mark Richardson, who had back-to-back tons in 1996-97, as the only Otago batsmen to score consecutive centuries at one-day level.
Broom and English import Darren Stevens had rescued the Otago innings after openers Aaron Redmond and Michael Bracewell both fell cheaply.
Stevens made his biggest contribution of the summer, 80 off 85 balls, as he and Broom compiled 158 for the fourth wicket.
But if the batsmen have done their job, Otago's bowlers will be frustrated they have twice in succession been unable to defend 270-plus.
Neil Wagner dismissed Lou Vincent for just eight but the rest of the afternoon was a cruise for the Aucklanders, who knocked off the total with nine balls and seven wickets in hand.
The unlikely hero was Black Caps discard Tim McIntosh, by most people's reckoning not well suited to limited-overs cricket.
McIntosh was unbeaten at the close on 121, having faced 132 balls and hit nine fours and two sixes.
He received good support from two former Otago players, Gareth Hopkins (57) and Greg Todd (47 not out).
• Rob Nicol played a starring role as Canterbury consolidated its position at the top of the one-day championship after beating Central Districts by 56 runs in New Plymouth yesterday.
Nicol (28) notched the third one-day century of his career with yesterday's 105 and then took four Central Districts wickets with his off-spin.
Central Districts now finds itself bottom of the table after Wellington beat Northern Districts by 52 runs at the Basin Reserve yesterday.
• Canterbury won the women's championship when it beat Wellington by 27 runs in Christchurch yesterday.
Canterbury made 188 for nine batting first, with Janet Brehaut producing a steadying 53 after her side found itself at 64 for the loss of four wickets.
Wellington was the architect of its own demise.
At 47 for three by the 18th over, Sophie Devine and Emily Perry staged a 57-run partnership for the fourth wicket until Devine departed for 32.
A spate of run outs then demolished Wellington's innings, beginning with Perry for 42, as Wellington succumbed to the pressure of the chase, all out for 161 in 46.4 overs.
