Surrey 167 and 110 for 6 v Middlesex 423
Scorecard A sensational five-wicket burst in the space of 26 balls by Middlesex fast
bowler Toby Roland-Jones followed Dawid Malan's third championship century of
the summer to help Middlesex towards maximum points against Surrey.
Surrey trailed by a massive 256 runs on first innings at Lord's and, after
putting on 75 for the first wicket, lost six men in nine overs as the
locally-born 22-year old proved unstoppable. In his third Championship match, he shot out Steve Davies for 43 and four more for single figures as Surrey plummeted to 91 for 6. They needed 146 more to
avoid an innings defeat by the close.
Although Malan, out for 107, was himself the first of three victims in five
balls during a fiery new-ball spell from Chris Tremlett earlier, Middlesex
recovered from 348 for 7 to pass 400 and post full batting points for the
first time this summer after Roland-Jones was dropped twice at slip in
Tremlett's next over.
Malan had added a rapid 72 for the fifth wicket with Gareth Berg - like his
partner, raised in South Africa - when Tremlett ripped out his middle stump and
then swung one back to bowl Berg for 45. Next ball, another full-length delivery crashed into the base of new batsman Shaun Udal's leg stump but Roland-Jones survived the hat-trick.
He added 35 with Josh Davey, many flying off the edge, before falling for 26
from 33 balls and Middlesex claimed the final bonus point with eight wickets
down. They were eventually dismissed for 423, Tremlett taking tea with 4 for 90
after he had been brought back to dispose of the last man.
But his success came far too late for Surrey, whose seven-man attack could
manage only three wickets in the first 42 overs after Middlesex resumed on 179
for 2. Indeed, they were as punishing with the bat in the morning as Roland-Jones was
later to prove with the ball.
After a deceptively quiet start, they took 115 runs from the 30 overs leading
to the interval, only two men departing in that time. Owais Shah once again threw away the chance of a big score when, on 63 from 89 balls, his lazy swat at a long hop saw him caught behind off Jade Dernbach's
sixth ball of the day.
For his part, Matthew Spriegel's first ball, as the fifth bowler employed, was
pulled by Neil Dexter, the new batsman, over the short mid-wicket boundary for
six. But Spriegel gained revenge four balls later when Dexter advanced to drive the
off-spinner only to miscue to deep mid-on for 24.