Ramps ensures no hiccups at Lord's

Murali Kartik celebrates the wicket of Usman Afzaal as Surrey's second innings ran into minor trouble at Lord's

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Surrey were forced to scrap for a draw at Lord’s after Middlesex took the initiative to resurrect an LV= County Championship match that had seemed to be heading nowhere.

An unbeaten century from Nick Compton and a sparkling 61 from Owais Shah enabled Middlesex captain Shaun Udal to declare their second innings in mid-afternoon.

Set 240 in 44 overs, Surrey then lost Jon Batty to the second ball of their own second innings, lbw to Steven Finn, and suddenly they were 55 for five as Finn, Murali Kartik and Udal himself got among the wickets.

With 19 overs still possible to be bowled, Middlesex smelt blood, and probably wished they had declared a little bit earlier.

But Mark Ramprakash remained, and the former England and Middlesex batsman added 49 not out, to add to his first innings 136.

Chris Jordan also played well to finish unbeaten on 30 and take Surrey to 99 for five when hands were shaken with four overs to go.
India left-arm spinner Kartik bowled beautifully to take 2-26 from 14 overs on a pitch beginning to take significant, if slow, turn.

He had Stewart Walters lbw padding up to an arm ball, and Usman Afzaal also lbw on the back foot to a ball which spun back at the left-hander from the bowlers’ footmarks.

Finn had followed up the early removal of Batty by trapping Michael Brown lbw with the second ball after tea, and Udal won yet another lbw verdict when Mark Butcher went back on to his stumps to one which looked to skid through.

Ramprakash, however, was determined to deny his former club any further successes and he has now scored 1,058 runs in 13 first-class innings for Surrey at an average of 105.80 against the county he left after 14 seasons in 2001.

Jordan, too, coped well against the Kartik-Udal spin combination, and Middlesex also tried both Finn and Chris Silverwood again – plus a couple of overs of Dawid Malan’s occasional leg-spin – in a vain attempt to split the sixth-wicket partnership.

Earlier Middlesex had resumed just 31 runs ahead at 38 without loss, but flourished through Compton and Shah after losing Billy Godleman for 21, brilliantly caught at third slip by a diving Jordan off a pacy Alex Tudor.

Shah, who made 159 in the first innings, again looked in superb touch and struck 10 fours in his 63-ball innings. For Compton, it was a welcome return to form after a lean run stretching back to the middle of last summer in first-class cricket, and he included a straight six off Simon King, the 21-year old debutant off-spinner, in his hundred.

There were also eight fours for Compton as Middlesex, who promoted both Udal and Kartik up the order in the quest for quick runs, added 102 in 17.5 overs after lunch before the declaration.

Middlesex had offered Surrey an equation of 250 in around 50 overs, but the South Londoners – ahead of their rivals in the Second Division table – declined that initial approach and seemed happy enough to take a draw even before those first five second-innings wickets fell in a heap.