Otago won but it lost.
In a remarkable twenty/20 match, Otago snatched an unlikely tie and then went on to beat Auckland by six runs in an eliminator over at Colin Maiden Park last night.
But victory came too late for Otago.
The Volts needed to do more than just beat Auckland to reach the final - they needed to lift their net run rate above Auckland's and were unable to do so.
Ultimately, Auckland had more to lose from the extra over with a home final riding on the outcome.
Instead, Central Districts will host Sunday's final at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth after it beat Northern Districts by four wickets in Hamilton.
Otago might have sealed a spot in the final had it fielded better.
The Volts produced an uncharacteristic fumbling display.
After getting themselves into a dominant position they let the advantage slip, grassing several regulation catches.
Auckland had slumped to 71 for six but a desperate 77-run stand between Anaru Kitchen and Colin de Grandhomme (40) resurrected an innings which was threatening to implode.
Kitchen starred with 54 from 39 deliveries but he should have been dismissed when he was on three.
Nick Beard made good ground in the deep and appeared to have the catch under control.
But at the last moment he lurched forward and deflected the ball over his shoulder and across the boundary rope for four.
The momentum swung back to the home side and Auckland crashed 64 runs off the last five overs to reach 171 for nine.
It was probably a par score on what looked to be a good pitch.
But Otago needed to reach the target in less than 17.4 overs to lift its net run rate above Auckland's.
That looked a long way off when star player Brendon McCullum skied a pull shot and, later, when Craig Cumming was bowled trying to run the ball down to third man.
Bowling all-rounder Nathan McCullum counter-attacked with a fabulous innings, blasting 61 from 35 deliveries.
It was not too little but it was definitely too late.
His innings gave the Volts the opportunity to snatch an improbable victory and, amazingly, the visitors managed to tie the match thanks to some streaky boundaries from the bat of Beard in the last over.
"We were pretty confident leading in," Otago coach Mike Hesson said. "But unfortunately we didn't field especially well and that was probably a contributing factor to chasing a lot more than we would have liked."
The Volts suffered a double blow with Ian Butler pulling up lame.
He strained a muscle while bowling and was not able to complete his allotment of four overs.
"We tried to get him back out there to bowl but unfortunately he was unable to do that. That was a big loss for us but we had enough chances but just were unable to take them."
Auckland made a dreadful start with its top order reduced to rubble within nine overs.
The rot started when Martin Guptill spooned a drive to Butler at mid on.
Ravi Bopara charged Warren McSkimming and dispatched a short delivery over mid wicket for six, but came unstuck when he tried to repeat the dose to Yasir Arafat.
Scott Styris is a vastly experienced twenty/20 campaigner but he played a forgettable shot, and Lou Vincent, who had just played two delightful sweep shots, inexplicably missed a straight delivery from Nathan McCullum.
Neil Wagner spilled the sort of catch you would expect a club cricketer to take nine times out of 10, and sub fielder Darren Broom caught Kitchen in the deep but, unaware of his position, stepped over the boundary rope and conceded six.
The dropped catches and clumsy fielding gave the home side a much-needed leg up.
And every extra run scored eroded Otago's chances of sneaking into the final.
