With the exception of an insignificant 16 minutes at the end, the Wanderers right hander went on and on in search of three magic figures at the Queen's Park Oval.
But in the end, the spell was broken with Rampersad four runs short of his target.
The long walk back to the pavilion must have been wearisome, a trial even for a man who had spent over four hours at the crease yesterday. However as he slowly changed out of gear, Rampersad at least had the consolation of knowing he had given the national selectors something to think about in the final President's Cup trial.
Rampersad's healthy total allowed the Anil Balliram XI to end the game on 304 when Rajindra Dhanraj was bowled by equally successful, 6-wicket Vishal Persad-Maharaj (35-10-77-6).
However, it was determined Denis' statistics that captured the most attention.
It was a knock spanning six hours in total and containing seven boundaries. But yesterday's effort was not an innings he will rate as his best.
One dropped catch, a mis-stumping and countless risky, absent-minded flirtations outside offstump took away some of the lustre. But none of the pool players throwing an eye on the action or the sprinkling of old timers could not but applaud the perseverance of the new talent.
His was the kind of stick-to-itiveness that was consistently lacking over the three days.
A pity there was not a ton at the end of all that effort.
The close of Rampersad's innings though came none-too-soon for the Smith XI bowlers and stand-in captain Daren Ganga.
Several times during the afternoon, the skipper and his men fussed over chances that went abegging. And they must have wished they had seen Rampersad's back in the morning when he and Avelino Thomas resumed their partnership with the score 98 for 3.
Neither batsman was in generous mood then. And Thomas (41) seemed set to bring up the game's second 50 when he was beaten by a Kishore Lalchan delivery and wicketkeeper Kendall Joseph completed the first of his two stumpings.
His replacement Imran Jan was no more judicious when he pulled a Persad-Maharaj ball into midwicket's hands before he had scored. But Rampersad found a stable partner in Armanath Basdeo who despite his own adventures (he was dropped twice on 36) helped his partner add 65. Basdeo's dismissal let in the bowlers, but that gave steady, sometimes robust support while Rampersad pushed on. Occasionally there was the outstanding stroke-the two cracking pulls for four off Andy Jackson and the rasping square cut off Persad Maharaj for instance.
His mates also pulled out the long handle, none better than Paty who hit Randy Bachan a ferocious blow over the square leg fence.
But in the end the tiring Rampersad could not make the support count. On 96 he drove an enticing Persad Maharaj half volley to cover. An admirable knock was at an end. But with the North-South classic and President's Cup still ahead, something good may just be beginning.
Scores:
Balliram XI: 104 & 304 (D. Rampersad 96, A. Thomas 41, A. Basdeo 40; V. Persad-Maharaj 6-77)
Smith XI: 129