"I went out there with some good intent, had my plans and process, and seemed like everything went my way," he said. "I've made a few 30s playing in twos [2nd XI] and stuff, felt like I've been hitting them reasonably well but probably not that well so definitely surprised myself."

Asked if he'd ever played like that before, he joked: "Maybe a video game or something. Definitely not in real life, that's for sure."

Tasmania captain Jordan Silk, whose own century ended up on the winning side, said: "It's probably an innings I'll never see maybe ever again. It was some of the cleanest ball-striking I've seen and sometimes you've just got to tip your cap to players like that that can do that. Whilst it was frustrating to watch it was also amazing to watch."

Fraser-McGurk only faced one of the first 12 balls of the chase, scoring just a single. But in the third over he unleashed a furious display of ball-striking. He took 32 off Sam Rainbird's second over of the innings including four sixes and two fours.

He raced to 50 off 18 balls to set a new mark for the fastest half-century in Australia's one-day domestic competition, breaking Glenn Maxwell's previous mark of 19 balls.

He kept going. In the ninth over he smacked three consecutive sixes off Billy Stanlake to three different quadrants of the ground. He then struck a boundary and a single to bring up his century.

His spectacular innings had put South Australia on course for a record chase but eventually they fell 37 runs short.