A SLOW handclap echoed around St Helen’s, stewards had to stop disgruntled spectators voicing their feelings towards the pavilion balcony and Surrey were booed on to the field as the second division leaders made no attempt to beat Glamorgan, the bottom side, in a dismal advertisement for championship cricket.

There was every prospect of an enthralling finish when Surrey began the day 199 runs ahead with seven wickets in hand but by the time they declared, 40 minutes before tea, to sarcastic cheers from what was left of the crowd, Glamorgan needed 387 to win in 40 overs.

It was a poor exhibition from a side that had Mark Ramprakash, the country’s leading run-maker, resuming on 110 in partnership with the free-scoring Alistair Brown, two more strokemakers in Rikki Clarke and James Benning to force the pace and three international seam bowlers and two spinners to try to dismiss Glamorgan or, failing that, contain them.

Perhaps Surrey were scared of Mark Cosgrove, who had left the field the day before with a damaged thumb but was fit enough to hit 80 off 48 balls with a six and 16 fours in his last innings before joining the Australia A team. He was then stumped off Nayan Doshi and the match was called off as a draw half an hour before the scheduled close.

That Glamorgan had scored 168 for two off 33 overs gave some credence to Surrey’s view that the pitch was too good for them to win but it was difficult to understand why they did not try, with Worcestershire and Essex closing the gap at the top and the Welshmen hardly a threat to them.

Ramprakash, for instance, batted like a man having a net in scoring 13 in the first hour, 20 in the second and spending longer compiling his third fifty than he had making his hundred. He was finally bowled by Alex Wharf for 156 off 321 balls.