Ormond keeps Surrey in the game

County Championship D1, Lord's:
Middlesex 319-7 v Surrey (day one, stumps)

Match scorecard

Ben Hutton - his wicket triggered an early collapse by Middlesex

Middlesex's batsmen rode their luck throughout Thursday as day one of the Middlesex v Surrey clash finished with honours even at a sun-baked Lord's.

The score was 319-7 at stumps but it had been 100-0 before the first five wickets fell for just 48 runs on a day of fluctuating fortunes.

Ed Smith (60) and Jamie Dalrymple (77) were the leading lights for Middlesex, while James Ormond took 4-63.

Veteran seamer Martin Bicknell (2-85) deserved a far better return.

Tim Murtagh was another Surrey bowler who was unlucky not to take more wickets, his only victim proving to be Smith, who he bowled with a ball that pitched middle and took the top of off-stump.

Harbhajan Singh got through 24 overs on a wicket that did not entirely suit the spinners.

But his only wicket came when Dalrymple, having hit 13 fours with a variety of shots, slogged his doosra to deep mid-wicket, where Scott Newman took a fine catch.

Oxfordshire-born Chris Wright, 19, came into the Middlesex side for his first match of the season after Melvyn Betts failed to pass a fitness test.

Surrey included 100-Test veteran Graham Thorpe while Aussie all-rounder Dominic Thornely made his Championship debut.