Middlesex sink Surrey

County Championship D1, Lord's, day four:
Surrey 418 & 203 lost to Middlesex 325 & 300-4 by six wickets
Points: Middlesex 20, Surrey 8

Match scorecard

Koenig struck a vital 62 in Middlesex's impressive victory

Middlesex broke a seven-match championship duck against Surrey with a determined six-wicket victory on the final day at Lord's.

The hosts made light of their 297-run target, cruising home after tea with three top-order batsmen making fifties.

Opener Ben Hutton top-scored with 88, while Pakistani spinner Saqlain Mushtaq battled valiantly to return 4-107.

It was Middlesex's first victory of the season, but 2002 champions Surrey remain winless after two outings.

Hutton and Sven Koenig (62) put Middlesex, 32-0 overnight, on the path to victory with a 114-run opening stand.

Hutton's knock was not chanceless, surviving dropped catches on 48 and 60 as he and stand-in skipper Owais Shah added 92 for the second wicket.

Hutton was caught behind after striking 10 boundaries, and Shah soon followed for 65 when holing out to Saqlain at long-on.

But at 273-3 the hosts were in no danger, Ed Joyce's caught-and-bowled dismissal late on for 47 simply delaying the inevitable.

Surrey captain Jonathan Batty blamed two poor sessions on Friday, when his side were bowled out for 203, for the defeat.

"To have a (first-innings) lead of 93 and not nail it cost us," he said.

"The opposition had a fine game and poor batting allowed them a sniff.

"Jimmy Ormond ran in hard - he is a fantastic bowler - but they had a bit of luck and that made the difference."

Shah said his side's confidence in their batting paid rich dividends.

"To score 300 in a day against one of the better attacks in Division One - we were thinking it would be a tough task," he said.

Shah was particularly grateful to win after putting Surrey in to bat and conceding a first-innings total of 418.

"They (the bowlers) made me look an idiot in overcast conditions going at five an over, but when our backs were against the wall we dug deep."

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Middlesex: S G Koenig, B L Hutton, O A Shah (Capt), E C Joyce, P N Weekes, J W M Dalrymple, D C Nash (Wkt), S J Cook, P M Hutchison, C B Keegan, M Hayward.

Surrey: J N Batty (Capt, Wkt), S A Newman, M R Ramprakash, J G E Benning, A D Brown, A J Hollioake, Azhar Mahmood, I D K Salisbury, Saqlain Mushtaq, J Ormond, T J Murtagh.