Dominated for the better part of two days, Auckland turned their round one Plunket Shield match on its head on day three.
Auckland tacked on valuable runs in the morning to set Wellington a challenging target, then bowled the hosts out inside 50 overs for a 54-run victory at the Basin Reserve on Wednesday.
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Resuming their second innings at 171-6, the Aces added another 131 in 33 overs, ending their innings at 317 and setting the Firebirds 232 for victory.
Will O’Donnell (54 from 134) added just one to his overnight score, but Bevon Jacobs (79 from 150) and Simon Keene (39 from 69) dug in, putting on 77 for the eighth wicket.
Liam Dudding finished with 4-49 from 17.5 overs and Michael Snedden 3-52 from 18 for Wellington.
Devon Conway and Nick Kelly made starts but the Firebirds lost four quick wickets to be 58-5. Tom Blundell (63 from 85) and Logan van Beek (27 from 38) gave them a chance but could not hold on for a draw.
Danru Ferns took 3-40 from 10, while Sean Solía and Keene each took two wickets.
At Napier’s McLean Park, Otago avoided an innings defeat but still fell to Central Districts by eight wickets.
A late rearguard from Max Chu and Jake Gibson ensured the hosts would have to bat again, but with the target only 31, they cruised home in just over 10 overs.
With Chu (66 from 149) and Gibson (62 not out from 120) adding 108 runs for the ninth wicket, the Volts reached 186.
Spinner Jayden Lennox took 3-49 from 29 and Blair Tickner 3-40 from 15, while Brad Schmulian and Ray Toole each claimed two wickets.
Meanwhile, Northern Districts are in a strong position to take maximum points on the final day of their match against Canterbury on Thursday.
ND will resume at 74-1, needing 129 runs from a minimum of 99 overs for an outright victory at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval.
The visitors dominated day three, adding 61 runs to their overnight total before declaring at 352-9, a deficit of just nine runs.
With Matt Fisher taking 3-30 from 11, and Neil Wagner and Brett Hampton grabbing two wickets each, ND dismissed Canterbury for 193, setting up a target of 203 for victory.
Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Cole McConchie and Michael Rippon all got starts but could not push through for a big total.