In the end it took a full toss from Usman Afzaal, claiming his first wicket for 13 months, to part Boeta Dippenaar and Hylton Ackerman when their match-saving, 314-run stand eventually concluded straight after the mid-afternoon drinks. Their unremitting onslaught had long since secured the draw.

The two veteran South Africans, with four more years between them than Surrey’s trio of fast bowlers combined, had earlier indulged in a massacre of the innocents as the first 13 overs of the new ball disappeared for 84 runs.

Dippenaar passed his maiden hundred for Leicestershire at the 26th attempt, reaching 143 before at last driving to long-on, and Ackerman, going to 180 from 226 balls, posted his first of the season. It was the highest stand for any wicket by either side in 157 matches between the teams and was only three runs short of Leicestershire’s third-wicket best in the championship.

Afzaal, who ran 60 yards to deep square leg in jubilant relief to embrace Mark Ramprakash, then proved unstoppable. A tired Ackerman was bowled round his legs to give his occasional left-arm spin a second success in 18 balls and Jim Allenby came and went to one of the more improbable dismissals of the year.

Allenby’s full-blooded pull felled Michael Brown at short-leg but rebounded off the small of his back to be caught by Jon Batty, the wicketkeeper. All of which was music to Afzaal but had no bearing on a game that Surrey’s frontline performers had allowed to get away by persistently bowling short in the morning. The new ball, their key hope, became a liability.

To be fair, this was on a pitch, as with too many in the championship, that was at its most tame on the final day. And Surrey went into the contest deprived of André Nel, their spearhead. A Kolpak signing for three seasons, Nel’s slight back niggle was not enough to prevent him appearing as twelfth man to catch his countryman, Dippenaar, on the boundary, but Surrey remain keen to find another potential match-winner.

Ryan Harris, the official overseas player, managed only 33.5 overs for them before damaging a knee ligament and, even if he recovers, he will depart for cricket with Australia A. Grant Elliott returns for the Twenty20 Trophy but a desire to replace him with Harbhajan Singh from mid-July is being met with reluctance from the Indian board.

Such matters were more interesting than the pointless final rites of this match, soured only by the mandatory removal of Stuart Meaker from the attack after he bowled two unintentional beamers at the diminutive James Taylor.

Leicestershire: First Innings 165 (J W Dernbach 6 for 47)

Second Innings (overnight 181-2)
*H H Dippenaar c sub b Afzaal 143
H D Ackerman b Afzaal 180
J Allenby c Batty b Afzaal 11
J W A Taylor not out 23
†T J New not out 27
Extras (b 8, lb 10, w 10, nb 6) 34
Total (5 wkts dec, 147 overs) 487
Fall of wickets: 1-67, 2-90, 3-404, 4-412, 5-421.
Bowling: Dernbach 19-1-83-0; Jordan 22-5-80-0; Meaker 18-0-71-0; Hussain 34-6-96-2; Schofield 31-5-66-0; Afzaal 18-1-51-3; Newman 2.6-0-10-0; Brown 2-0-12-0.

Surrey: First Innings 329 (M J Brown 101, M R Ramprakash 85; H F Gurney 5 for 82)

Umpires: M A Gough and J W Lloyds.