Malan and Middlesex fight back on Day One

Middlesex have fought back on day one of the LVCC Division 1 match at Lord’s, ending the day 225-9, after being 129-7 at one stage.

On a cloudy morning, Rory Hamilton-Brown won the toss and stuck Middlesex in. The surprising team news was that Stuart Meaker had been replaced by Tim Linley, maybe due to stiffness in his neck, or just through rotation of the seamers. Jason Roy also missed out for the visitors.

Lewis and Linley opened up, but struggled to find their line early on, with Denly and Robson batting comfortably. However Lewis, like in the 2 innings against Sussex, made the first breakthrough, when he got Denly to drive and took his outside edge to give Davies his first catch of the season. However, Chris Rogers joined Robson, and the Australian pair batted well in the conditions, swinging the session towards Middlesex.

RHB continued to chop and change the bowlers, and finally brought on Jade Dernbach over an hour into the days play. And Dernbach made the breakthrough, when he trapped Rogers in front. A massive wicket for Surrey, as fans would know, if he gets in, he can really punish you. However, that was the last wicket before lunch, as Dawid Malan and Sam Robson took their side safely through to the break. After being inserted, Middlesex would have been the happier side at 86-2.

Surrey would have been looking for quick wickets after the interval, but that wasn’t to be, as the heavens opened, and the game was delayed. Heavy rain and thunder and lightning continued for 45 minutes, and even with Lord’s being the quickest drying ground, the groundsman had a job to do. After a delay of over an hour and ten minutes, the players got back out there just before 3 O’Clock.

Tim Linley, who struggled to find his line in his first spell, opened up from the Nursery end, and got Surrey off to the perfect start, uprooting Sam Robson’s off stump to claim his first wicket of the season. Jade Dernbach opened with Linley, and he also made a breakthrough when Dexter attempted to leave a ball, but played on. And Dernbach was then on a hat trick, when he got Josh Simpson to edge a ball to slip, where Batty took an easy catch. Gareth Berg survived the hat trick ball, but Surrey were on top, as Middlesex had fallen from 86-2, to 91-5.

Middlesex needed to rebuild their innings, and Malan was joined by Berg and they started to do that. However, The Viscount really had found his line and length, when he got one to swing back at Berg and removed his leg stump. Middlesex 6 down for 108. Malan dug in, batting untypically watchfully, and was joined by Ollie Rayner. The pair were slowly putting together a partnership, but Jon Lewis was brought back into the attack and bowled the big off spinner with a perfect ball, clipping the top of off stump. Malan and former Surrey man Murtagh took their side to tea 142-7. A good session for Surrey, taking 5 wickets and conceding just 56 runs.

Surrey would have been looking to roll the Middlesex tail over quickly after tea, but Murtagh and Malan thought otherwise. They frustrated the bowlers, with RHB switching between Dernbach, Lewis and Linley, but without much luck. A good score on this pitch would be anything above 200, and being 129-7 at one point, Surrey would have hoped to bowl the hosts out for something considerably less than that.

The skipper then brought on Gareth Batty, and in his 3^rd over, he trapped Murtagh in front and broke the partnership on 53. However, Malan was batting superbly, and was joined by Surrey’s nemesis of 2010 Toby Roland-Jones. Jordan was wayward towards the end, with the batsman picking up some vital runs. They took Middlesex over 200, but before the close, Jordan did manage to get Roland-Jones, caught by Batty at slip.

Surrey will be annoyed at once again letting the lower order batsman get away from them, and the partnership between Murtagh and Malan could be game changing. They will need to knock the last wicket over quickly tomorrow, before starting the tough task of getting past Middlesex’s total.