At Bristol, a match that had begun with Surrey batting records tumbling ended rather ill-temperedly. Harbhajan Singh, playing in his last game for the visitors, could well be reported to the England and Wales Cricket Board for verbally abusing Gloucestershire’s Mark Hardinges after a confident appeal for a catch at silly point was turned down.

The Indian off-spinner had words with Hardinges, which required a rebuke from umpire Allan Jones. Then, during the tea interval, tempers flared again when Hardinges and Scott Newman, who felt he had claimed the bat-pad chance, were involved in an exchange in the corridor leading to the two dressing rooms.

The home side entered the final day 59 runs adrift of making the Oval outfit bat again, with six wickets in hand. Alex Gidman, who missed out on a hundred in the first innings, led the way with 142 and Steve Adshead chipped in with 93. Both were personal-bests and the pair’s 235-run stand in 72 overs for the fifth wicket beat their county’s previous highest against Surrey, set by Tom Langdon and Cyril Sewell at the Oval in 1914.

Gidman’s escape on the third afternoon, when, with 64 to his name, he gave a return chance to Jimmy Ormond which was floored, took on a growing significance. Ormond was the pick of the visitors’ attack in the second innings. He added Fisher and Kirby to the earlier scalps of Windows and Weston, but frustrating passages of play filled the gaps in-between each breakthrough.

Gidman and Adshed were not parted until the half an hour after lunch and Surrey had to send down a total of 245.3 overs to bowl their opponents out twice, which left the visitors needing an unlikely 180 in 18 overs to win. They called off the run chase at 84 for three off 11 overs, with all three wickets falling to Steve Kirby, who conceded just 30 runs in six overs.

Azhar Mahmood gave his side a glimmer of hope with a 17-ball 26, which included a massive six that cleared the Mound Stand at mid-wicket off the bowling of James Averis. Clarke recorded the innings other maximum when he pulled Kirby into the tennis courts on the western side of the ground.

This was by no means the first time in recent memory that Gloucestershire have frustrated Surrey. Last summer’s fixture at the Brit Oval finished with the visitors’ last pair at the crease and the west countrymen have thwarted the Ovalites longer than anyone else in championship cricket. Indeed, one has to go back to April 1995 to find Surrey’s last four-day win over Gloucestershire.

Adshead was eventually taken down the leg-side off Rikki Clarke, whose bowling caught the eye even though it was only used sparingly. Gidman’s second first-class century, and his first in three years, was ended when he pushed at one from Harbhajan Singh and was taken at slip. His three figures were reached in 196 deliveries, with two sixes and 16 fours. Crucially, it was another thirty overs before he could be prized from the crease.

Chris Taylor was caught at leg gully, but the last three Gloucestershire wickets filled another twenty-one wearisome overs.

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