It was Lancashire’s worst nightmare. They knew that Mark Ramprakash was the biggest obstacle to their chances of beating Surrey to make sure that they will win the county championship for the first time in 73 years and they missed the opportunity to run him out before he had scored.

When bad light ended play nearly seven hours later, the finest English batsmen of his generation, whatever the selectors may think, walked off undefeated on 180 with Lancashire fretting over the progress that was being made by Sussex and Durham, their only realistic challengers for the title.

It had looked as if it was going to be one of those days for Lancashire when Jonathan Batty edged the impressive Sajid Mahmood’s fourth ball to second slip, where Stuart Law put down a straightforward catch, but Batty obligingly gave Law the chance to make amends off Mahmood’s ninth ball and this time he accepted it.

Then, in Mahmood’s next over, came the moment that could haunt Lancashire for another 73 years. Ramprakash jammed down on an attempted yorker and set off for a single as the ball rolled out on the off side. Scott Newman sent him back and Ramprakash would have been stranded if Paul Horton, who had moved from short leg to cover the stumps, had not made a hash of gathering Mahmood’s backhand flick.

It was an unusually nervous start by Ramprakash, who got off the mark with what was almost a slog over mid-on and might have been out for eight when Steven Croft at third slip could not hold on to the second of two stinging edges off Glen Chapple, probably because his hand was still throbbing from the first one.

Then Ramprakash was away with three reassuring fours in one over from Oliver Newby and what followed was almost inevitable as he moved serenely to his ninth century of the season, the 96th of his career and, remarkably, his 43rd in his 100th first-class match for Surrey. By the close he had faced 263 balls and struck 28 fours and a six, hoisted gleefully over long-on off Chapple.

It appeared so effortless that Newman, Mark Butcher and Stewart Walters could have been playing a different game as they got out to careless shots before James Benning hit a violent 51 off 26 balls with two sixes and seven fours to leave Lancashire fearing that the title was again slipping from their grasp.