Surrey shade opening day

Middlesex 319 for 7 (Dalrymple 77, Smith 60) v Surrey
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Martin Bicknell: started the Surrey fightback with two wickets after lunch © Getty Images

Middlesex missed an opportunity to take full advantage of near perfect batting conditions as they lost their way after a solid start in the London derby against Surrey at Lord's. When Ben Hutton won the toss Mark Ramprakash wore the face of a man who thought his side would be in for a long day of leather chasing, but Surrey's attack showed commendable perseverance on a flat batting pitch, and he will be mightily pleased with his side's effort to restrict Middlesex to 319 for 7.

He must have feared the worst when Middlesex went to lunch on 89 for 0 despite Hutton and Ed Smith, the openers, having their fair share of luck along the way, including when Hutton was dropped at leg gully when he had 11. Smith, too, was far from comfortable at times, especially against the increasingly impressive Tim Murtagh. His opening six overs deserved a wicket as he beat Smith on the inside and outside edges and had him edging short of second slip.

Martin Bicknell was not quite at his best during his opening spell, but he returned from lunch a rejuvenated bowler. He has not collected over 1000 first-class wickets without being a clever bowler and used all his experience to completely work over Hutton. After sending down three balls that slanted across Hutton he bowled the perfect inswinger and, expecting another outswinger, Hutton shouldered arms and saw his off-stump flattened in similar circumstances to Jacques Rudolph at The Oval in 2003 (100 for 1).

In his next over Bicknell, now in perfect rhythm, found the outside edge of Owais Shah's bat (104 for 2) and the old adage of always adding two wickets to your score proved very true for Middlesex - suddenly there was different complexion on proceedings.

And the turnaround continued at a pace. Smith, who had survived his moments of fortune, was looking more assured, with his favoured leg-side play in good working order. Test match bowlers may have worked Smith out very quickly during his three-Test career but he remains a run machine at county level. However, playing away from his body his still his weakness and he inside-edged a delivery from Murtagh into his stumps (118 for 3).

It was the least Murtagh deserved, and his opening day performance proved that he has the ability to take over Bicknell's mantle at Surrey. This season he has added a yard of pace and improved his accuracy, and, crucially in a side that is prone to an injury or two, is staying fit for long periods.

Jimmy Ormond, another tireless worker in the Surrey attack, made short work of the Middlesex middle-order, trapping Scott Styris lbw (136 for 4) and dismissing Ed Joyce in similar fashion, although Joyce can count himself unlucky after replays showed an inside edge.

Whatever Middlesex ate during lunch certainly hadn't agreed with them. Joyce's wicket meant they had lost five for 48 and were in need of a plate full of runs. Jamie Dalrymple and Paul Weekes, to allrounders at opposite ends of their careers, set about forging a vital 110-run stand for the sixth wicket. Dalrymple, who made 244 when he played against Surrey at The Oval in 2004, took the lead with a cover-drive off Harbhajan Singh especially memorable.

By tea the pair had taken Middlesex past their 200 - and the first batting point - and after the interval played ever more comfortably as the ball grew older and softer. Dalrymple reach his half-century from 88 balls while Weekes nudged and nurdled his contribution to the century stand.

Surrey made the breakthrough when Ormond forced Weekes to drag into his stumps (258 for 6) but Dalrymple continued to play his shots. He hoisted Harbhajan over mid-wicket for another boundary, but attempting a repeat of the shot got a top-edge and Scott Newman took a well-judged catch run backwards from mid-wicket (282 for 7). Harbhajan had a fairly anonymous day, but sent down a few of his doosra deliveries and found some helpful bounce form the Lord's surface.

Suddenly Surrey had high hopes of wrapping up the innings before the close, but the bowlers were showing clear signs of tiredness after a long day in the field. Ramprakash opted to take the new ball but Irfan Pathan enjoyed the extra pace, and showed some of his batting prowess with three glorious drives.

But, three hundred runs, seven wickets, attractive batting and preserving bowling made for a thoroughly entertaining days cricket. After some of the recent one-sided matches that have been played, it was just good to see a real contest between two well-matched sides.