DURHAM were left to ponder the injustices of the points system after being denied victory by the Oval pitch and the precocious talents of Tom Curran yesterday.

The 21-year-old South Africa-born all-rounder, who played for England Lions last winter, came in with his side precariously placed on 139 for five, still 11 behind with 40 overs left.

But by the time he had contributed 54 to a stand of 83 with Ben Foakes the game was up for Durham, who emerged from the contest with only one more point than Surrey.

It was the third successive game in which they have got the better of a draw but had little advantage over their opponents to show for it.

After moving clear at the top of Durham's list of first-class century-makers in the morning, Paul Collingwood was very reluctant to throw in the towel and Surrey were 94 ahead on 244 for six when hands were shaken with six overs left.

Collingwood shared first place on the Durham list on 21 centuries with Dale Benkenstein until a reverse paddle off Gareth Batty gave him his tenth four and took him to 100 off 139 balls.

He advanced from his overnight 75 to 106, adding 63 in 13 overs before the declaration on 607 for seven with Brydon Carse, who showed he is no mug with the bat by making an unbeaten 30.

The lead was 150, but the morning session remained wicketless and it took a post-lunch burst of three for 12 in four overs by Ben Stokes to give Durham a glimmer of hope.

His figures at that stage read 8-3-13-3, but after his marathon stint in the first innings he could make no further impact in 11 more overs.

While the first two matches were reduced to two days each, the loss of 27 overs on the second day at the Oval didn't help.

But the pitch was the real winner and the other results around the country suggest that the new toss rule is bringing more high-scoring draws.

If the intention is for pitches to start drier, thereby encouraging spin, it is going to take time for the spinners to improve, as underlined by Scott Borthwick bowling 27 wicketless overs.

Collingwood clearly saw Borthwick as his main attacking weapon on the ground where he took his career-best six for 70 three years ago. But despite the pitch's shaven ends the ball did not turn as expected.

Foakes, regarded as a future England wicketkeeper, has a first-class average of 37 and remained unbeaten on 36.

It was an invaluable effort considering that Zafar Ansari would have batted only in an emergency because of a badly-bruised thumb.

Chris Rushworth, who had bowled only three overs at the start of the innings, was recalled as a last throw of the dice and Curran took ten off his first five balls before tickling a leg-side catch to Michael Richardson.

The wicketkeeper had also held an excellent catch off Stokes to get rid of Rory Burns shortly after Stokes had pinned the other opener, Arun Harinath, lbw to end a stand of 41.

Then came the prized scalp of Kumar Sangakkara, who was caught for 14 at second slip by Borthwick, who later held a brilliant diving effort off Carse's sixth ball to see off Jason Roy for 34.

Ryan Pringle was sparingly used, having Steve Davies caught behind for 32 to finish with one for 20 in eight overs.

Collingwood said afterwards: “It’s a shame we lost around 30 overs due to rain and bad light on the first two days, even though it never really rained that hard.

"That’s disappointing because we couldn't afford to lose time on such a good batting pitch. It was a five-day wicket really, or even a six-day one!

"It's been hard work for the bowlers and, over the match, we’ve played some excellent cricket. We did really well to get them five wickets down today and in with a chance of forcing a win. On that surface it was a tremendous effort.”