Liam Plunkett and Jonathan Batty were the two men to enjoy themselves as Durham's game with Surrey was drawn.
Plunkett finished on 59 off 44 balls, with five sixes, as Durham declared on 397-7 to set the visitors 447 to win.
It was always going to be more about whether the home side could bowl them out and that never looked likely with Batty proving a tough obstacle.
He made a painstaking unbeaten 102 off 235 balls to dominate Surrey's score of 198-3 and a draw was agreed at 1730.
Despite already being 374 runs ahead, Durham batted on in the morning, knowing their depleted attack - Steve Harmison was ruled out with a back injury - might be at the mercy of big-hitters like Ally Brown and James Benning.
They added 72 runs in eight overs, with Plunkett hitting 26 in one over from Harbhajan Singh. That included four maximums between mid-wicket and long-on.
Plunkett found steep bounce to force Scott Newman to fend to Ottis Gibson at gully and Gibson took out Mark Ramprakash's off stump for 15 to make it 81-2.
But Mark Butcher dropped anchor to make 18 off 78 balls and the game was as good as safe for Surrey by the time he edged an attempted cut off Paul Wiseman to Phil Mustard.
Batty drove Wiseman for his only six just before completing a 215-ball century, which also included 11 fours.
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