Ian Holland took five of the six wickets to fall on the final day as Surrey's Rory Burns produced one of championship cricket’s great endurance performances to deny spirited Hampshire.

Just when Surrey were wondering how they would replace their finest batsman, Kumar Sangakkara, and their captain, Gareth Batty, who were both injured, Burns provided great batting and impressive leadership to secure his side a draw after following on.

First he batted for three minutes over ten hours as he carried his bat for a career-best 219 in a Surrey total of 483.  Surrey missed out on avoiding the follow-on by just 16 runs.

Then he came straight out again and batted for another 153 minutes to score 68.  

By the time he was third out, at 126, Surrey were safe.  Even then it took a freak dismissal to get rid of Burns, the delivery from Sean Ervine rebounding off wicketkeeper Lewis McManus’s pads and onto the stumps to leave him stumped.

Burns, 26, had a previous highest score of 199.  But, in general, he has a reputation for not converting his many fifties into the centuries that capture media and selectors’ attention.  That was hardly the case in this match.

He looked likely to be on the field for every minute of the match, until he got out half an hour before the close, and batted from tea on Tuesday until just after tea on Thursday.

Hampshire have been terrific in this game.  They found ways to take wickets on a pitch which, if anything, was a little too good.The surface started flat and slow and refused to change.

But Hampshire were the more deserving team.   First they made the fifth highest score in the county’s history.  And then they had the determination and the variety in their attack to take wickets and, but for Burns, would surely have prevailed.

Surrey resumed on the fourth day on 410-7, needing another 89 runs to avoid the follow-on.  

That looked well within reach as Burns and Tom Curran continued their unperturbed partnership.

Curran reached his fifty off 94 balls with seven fours and reached 1,000 first-class runs before he was bowled by Ian Holland for 53.

Holland was Hampshire’s demon bowler of the day.  In his next over he bowled Amar Virdi and just as Surrey looked likely to reach their target of 499 he dismissed last man Mark Footitt.

Surprisingly, Hampshire didn’t use Holland in Surrey’s second innings until 30 overs had passed.  

Then he came on and took two wickets in three balls, having Mark Stoneman lbw and then bowling Scott Borthwick for a duck.  But Hampshire never looked like taking the remaining seven wickets on this track, well though they continued to bowl.

“I’m not surprised by the draw,  it was a very flat wicket,” said Holland.   

 “Both teams batted well. That’s cricket. It was tough.  And it was sunny too, so there wasn’t much swing. 

“We were hoping the wicket might break up more but it held together pretty well.  It was a good batting wicket for four days.”

Holland has an impressive County Championship record of 12 wickets at just 10.75 from his first three matches for Hampshire.        

“I got it to reverse a bit,” he continued. 

“I just tried to hit the deck hard and I managed to get a couple through the defence.  

“I ended up keeping us out in the field a bit longer so I’m not sure the big fast bowlers were too happy with that!  It was pleasing to get among the wickets.”

Holland is also averaging 48 with the bat.

“It was nice to bat on!” he continued. 

“It’s been pleasing to do well I pride myself on my batting and like to think I’m a  even all rounder.”

Elsewhere, Middlesex beat Warwickshire by one wicket at Edgbaston, while Yorkshire's defeat to Somerset at Scarborough means Hampshire stay third going into a month's break from the Championship.
 

SURREY first innings
RJ Burns* not out 219
MD Stoneman c Rossouw b Ervine 57
C McKerr lbw b Crane 1
SG Borthwick c †McManus b Abbott 3
JJ Roy lbw b Berg 27
DP Sibley lbw b Abbott 57
BT Foakes†c Rossouw b Edwards 14
SM Curran c †McManus b Edwards 12 
TK Curran b Holland 53 
A Virdi b Holland 4
MHA Footitt c Berg b Holland 4
Extras(b 10, lb 7, w 1, nb 14)32
TOTAL (all out; 147.5 overs) 483
    Fall of wickets 1-103 (Stoneman, 26.6 ov), 2-128 (McKerr, 33.2 ov), 3-137 (Borthwick, 42.2 ov), 4-193 (Roy, 52.2 ov), 5-297 (Sibley, 90.4 ov), 6-332 (Foakes, 99.6 ov), 7-348 (SM Curran, 101.6 ov), 8-447 (TK Curran, 139.1 ov), 9-453 (Virdi, 141.4 ov), 10-483 (Footitt, 147.5 ov)
    Bowling: KJ Abbott 27-14-45-2, GK Berg 19-3-58-1, FH Edwards 23-2-120-2, MS Crane 45-8-161-1, IG Holland 16.5-4-37-3, SM Ervine 17-2-45-1 

SURREY second innings
RJ Burns*st †McManus b Ervine 68
MD Stoneman lbw b Holland 47
SG Borthwick b Holland 0
JJ Roy not out 37 
DP Sibley not out 12 
Extras(b 1, lb 1)2
TOTAL (3 wickets dec; 52 overs) 166  
   Did not bat BT Foakes†, SM Curran, TK Curran, C McKerr, MHA Footitt, A Virdi
   Fall of wickets 1-109 (Stoneman, 30.2 ov), 2-109 (Borthwick, 30.4 ov), 3-127 (Burns, 41.5 ov)
   Bowling GK Berg 7-0-19-0, KJ Abbott 4-1-12-0, FH Edwards 4-1-23-0, MS Crane 12-1-61-0, SM Ervine 16-3-24-1, IG Holland 7-2-16-2, GJ Bailey 2-0-9-0.