SURREY are not the Manchester United of cricket, they are the Real Madrid. Even on a day when England are playing, they can still field a top five — Ian Ward, Mark Butcher, Mark Ramprakash, Graham Thorpe and Alec Stewart — who have scored 19,022 Test runs between them. Alistair Brown cannot even get in the side. Has any county side ever put out a batting line-up with such a prolific international track record? These transpontine rivals are unbeaten in the county championship this season but the gulf between the teams is huge. Middlesex’s top five have only 21,264 first-class runs between them and not a single Test run. Surrey’s famous five have made 35 Test hundreds, Middlesex’s top five have 46 in all first-class cricket.

While Surrey expect nothing less than the title on an annual basis, Middlesex supporters have grown used to being thankful for very small mercies since the mid-1990s.

So Middlesex had every right to be pleased with themselves for making 370 in the first innings of this match, their highest first-innings total in the Championship this season. David Nash remained unbeaten as they added 59 to their overnight total for the loss of the last three wickets.

Middlesex can be pleased too with the way their bowlers hung in there after tea when everyone fully expected Surrey to start lording it. The final session of the day was a grind. Nine of the first 13 overs after tea were maidens. Ward reached his second successive hundred and his third of the season before being caught at slip off Paul Weekes, the off-spinner. Ramprakash was booed by the Middlesex supporters in a crowd of around 3,000 when he came out to bat. He was taunted by chants of: “You’ll never play for England.”

This was hardly Sol Campbell going back to White Hart Lane but it showed the competitive spirit. Ramprakash took 143 balls to make his 50, showing a bloody-minded determination to make a score against his old club. The last time Surrey played Middlesex in the Championship, he made a double hundred for Middlesex.

At the other end Thorpe was a study of cool authority, delicately pushing the ball around and occasionally punching the ball more vigorously through the covers. It was something of a shock to see him caught behind low in front of first slip by Nash off Abdul Razzaq for 46.

Middlesex are playing their hearts out with limited resources but for all their efforts, the county champions reduced the deficit to 96 without really breaking sweat.

When you are the Real Madrid of cricket, it does not do to try too hard.