Skipper Rory Burns admitted his relief as Surrey escaped with a draw at Old Trafford.

Fresh from opening the Specsavers County Championship campaign with a heartening victory over Hampshire, Surrey were forced to follow-on and bat through the final day to survive against Lancashire last weekend.

“We were outplayed over three days, but still came away with a draw, which is ideal,” said Burns, who had taken an unchanged side into the match.

Looking to make up time after Friday’s opening day was rained off, Burns sent in the hosts.

His gamble appeared to be paying off when Lancashire had slumped to 23-3, but Surrey foundered on a strong lower middle-order – led by Jordan Clark (78), Australian Joe Mennie (68 not out) and Tom Bailey’s career-best 66 – to reach 439-9 declared.

Amar Virdi, Surrey’s young off-spinner, shone once more, though, taking four wickets.

In-form Scott Borthwick led Surrey’s response with an innings of 79 and they appeared to be flourishing at 202-4.

But, just as in the first innings against Hampshire, they suffered a collapse and were bowled out for 235. Seamers Bailey (4-54) and Graeme Onions (4-49) did most of the damage.

Forced to follow-on early on the final day, Surrey were in trouble again at 90-4 and were effectively saved by Ben Foakes (57) and Ollie Pope (41 to add to his 145 against Hampshire) who put on 86 for the fifth wicket to finish on 199-6. Bailey’s fine match continued with a remarkable 4-13 from 19 overs.

“We were disappointing towards the back end of their innings with the ball and that sort of carried on into our batting, which also wasn’t good enough,” reckoned Burns.

“It was tough work out there – they bowled really well, but we’ve come through it.”

Surrey will hope they can rediscover their winning recipe when they entertain Worcestershire, who have lost all three matches since returning to Division One, in a match which starts on Friday at The Oval.